- Nawaz Sharif unveils education reforms programme
- Vows to bring revolution in education, raise literacy rate
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Friday that education is the basic right of every child and his government is committed to ensuring enrollment of every child of school-going age in order to enable them to become useful citizens.
“I will not rest till every child goes to school,” said the premier as he unveiled an education reforms’ programme aimed at improving educational facilities in Islamabad.
He said his government accorded high priority to education and was doing all within its means to raise the literacy rate. He said that apart from improving the buildings, the focus would also be on teachers’ training and modern curriculum that met the demands of the day.
Sharif said that under the reforms programme, all the 422 schools and colleges in the capital territory would be upgraded and equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.
He said that an amount of Rs 5 billion had been approved for the upgradation of schools and colleges in the federal capital, and asked the provinces to follow the suit.
The premier, on the occasion, announced upgradation of the Punjgran Model School for Girls to a degree college under the education reform initiative.
Addressing the students, Sharif said that the government was dedicated to make transport facility available to education-seekers, and added that 200 transport buses had been allocated to the education sector for this purpose. He also observed that countless girl students discontinued their education after primary level owing to lack of proper transport facility.
The PM however expressed annoyance over the admissions being granted without merit, and directed the authorities not to compromise over merit at any cost. He further said that his government’s education initiatives involved different language learning programmes among other modern education elements.
Earlier upon his arrival at the school, the prime minister was received by State Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Tariq Fazal Chaudhry.
The Education Reforms initiative programme will be completed over a span of eight to 10 months.
It may be mentioned that Maryam Nawaz, who was accompanying the PM, has been appointed as the programme’s special supervisor.
Later, addressing the centenary celebrations of the Islamic College Peshawar, the prime minister vowed to bring about a revolution in the country’s education sector.
He said the menace of terrorism was being rooted out from the country and the overall situation had improved in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Peshawar over the last two years. He said the armed forces, police and administration deserved applauds for the restoration of peace.
Interestingly, the prime minister, before his address, ordered to remove the bulletproof rostrum installed for him as part of security measures.
