LAHORE, Jan 4: In its first meeting on Saturday, the Punjab cabinet decided to provide free education up to secondary school level in all the provincial and district government schools from the next academic session.

Giving details of the cabinet decisions, Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi told a news conference that all public schools would stop charging fees from the next academic session beginning from April.

He said as his government attached top priority to education, it would take more steps to improve this sector.

He said free books would be offered in near future to attract children and to arrest the high dropout rate.

The education minister, according to him, had been asked to convince owners of the private schools to fix a quota for orphans and the children of the poor.

Pervaiz Elahi said surprise raids would be conducted to ensure the presence of teachers in schools in remote areas.

Replying to a question, he said private schools were sharing the government burden of providing education to the children. “We would remain in touch with them and evolve policies in consultation with them, motivating them to voluntarily reduce their fees and give relief to the children of the poor and middle class,” he said.

About free education at higher level, the chief minister said the government had just made a beginning.

It was also considering providing free technical education and arranging free food for children in public schools with the help of local councils, MPAs and philanthropists.