1.1 million out-of-school children enrolled

LAHORE:

The outsourcing of more than 11,000 schools has been completed in Punjab.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif was informed during a briefing on the ongoing and proposed projects of school education that the enrollment of children in the institutions had increased manifold.

She congratulated the education minister on the enrollment of 1.1 million out-of-school children under the Punjab Education Foundation.

The chief minister directed the School Management Councils to provide necessary facilities worth Rs10 billion within 90 days.

She directed the councils to build required classrooms in all schools within a year and repair 580 most dilapidated and 2,770 precarious school buildings. She added, "Construction and repair of schools is among our top priorities."

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz set a target of training in spoken English of 500,000 students of government schools by trainers.

She directed the relevant authorities to expand the scope of the school meal programme to more districts and tehsils, keeping in view the number of children suffering from malnutrition.

She also directed the authorities to build a 'Nawaz Sharif School of Eminence' for girls and boys in every district, and set a target of upgrading 1,750 schools in five years.

She was informed that 250 schools would be upgraded in the next financial year and 300 technical education schools would be built in 10 tehsils of Punjab.

Officials said the construction and repair of 195 classrooms and the roofs of 397 rooms in outsourced schools would be carried out.