Promoting education: 10,000 school classrooms to be added this year, says Shahbaz

CM says Rs28b will be spent on building new classrooms over two years

LAHORE: The government will construct thousands of additional classrooms in schools at a cost of Rs28 billion over the next two years, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Wednesday.

He was addressing a meeting held to review proposals to implement the project for construction of new classrooms in schools.

“More than 10,000 new classrooms will be constructed in the schools at a cost of Rs15 billion during the current financial year,” he said.

Shahbaz Sharif said that new classrooms would be constructed on a priority basis in south Punjab schools.

“Construction of new rooms will increase enrollment. The programme is a useful investment for equipping the youth with education. Better educational facilities will be thus available for girls and boys,” the chief minister said.

He directed relevant officials to complete a third party audit of the survey of schools regarding construction of additional rooms.

“An effective monitoring system will be evolved to monitor the project,” he said.

The chief minister said that commissioners, district coordination officers and assistant commissioners would be responsible for monitoring the construction work at divisional, district and tehsil levels, respectively.

“Provision of missing facilities at schools will be ensured on a priority basis. No compromise will be made on the implementation of the programme. Ensuring quality construction will be the responsibility of the departments concerned,” the CM said.

He said that he would personally monitor the implementation of the programme.

Ministers Rana Mashhood Ahmed and Tanvir Aslam Malik, the chief secretary and the Planning and Development Board chairman were also present.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2016.