Education spending: Rs1.5b allocated for four new women universities

Rs550m allocated for computers, Rs1.12b for teachers’ incentives.

SIALKOT:

The provincial government has allocated Rs1.5 billion for establishing four new women universities in Sialkot, Multan, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur, Manshaullah Butt, special assistant to the chief minister, said on Tuesday.

Butt said that the government had also allocated Rs540 million for the repair and reconstruction of dilapidated government school buildings that had been declared dangerous. An additional Rs1 billion has been allocated for the general upgrade of various government schools. He said that the PML-N government had planned to spend Rs4 billion to ensure early and uninterrupted provision of basic facilities missing in more than 2,500 public schools across the province. He said that the government also planned to develop science departments at these schools for which modern science laboratories will be built at an estimated cost of Rs1 billion. Butt said that Rs550 million will be spent for providing access to computers at all elementary and high schools across the Punjab. Butt said that the Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had recently approved a comprehensive promotion programme to provide basic facilities at all public schools and to encourage talented students and their teachers.

“To provide incentives to gifted students, the government has also allocated Rs2 billion. As many as 100,000 laptops would be distributed among the deserving students under the programme,” he said. Butt said that the PML-N was not ignoring the teachers and the hard work they were doing. “The government has also allocated Rs1.12 billion for teachers who show best results. They will be given cash prizes and certificates for outstanding performance as a token of its appreciation,” he added.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2011.