CHINIOT, March 26: Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool has said the government is making frantic efforts to raise the literacy rate in the country particularly in remote areas. This he said while addressing the participants at an inaugural ceremony of the new building of Government Girls College in Chiniot on Saturday. The governor said the literacy ratio among the women was quite low, but their performance in educational institutions from school to university was much better than their opposite sex.He said that books were being provided to students free of cost in all the government schools in Punjab. In addition, the government was also giving scholarships to the deserving students.The governor said the Punjab government planned to establish sub-campuses of leading universities at district level so that quality education could be imparted to the population living in far-off areas. For this purpose, he said that sub-campuses of Agriculture University Faisalabad and Lahore College for Women University were expected to be functional in Jhang district by September this year.

Speaking on the occasion, Mian Siddique Shafi Trust chairman Mian Naseem Shafi said the Government Girls College Chiniot had been established in a rented building in 1976.

He said the new college building was completed with an expenditure of Rs15 million. He said that Rs2.7 million was also donated by District Nazim Hamid Sultan.

Delivering the welcome address, Prof Mrs Razia Khalid said that some seven posts still lying vacant were needed to be filled.

MNA Tahir Shah said the Punjab government had sanctioned around Rs30 million for the further uplift of the college building.

Meanwhile, the governor was also the chief guest at a function arranged by the Saudagar Welfare Trust (SWT).

SWT chief Javed Vohra said the trust had established Mohallah Saudagran where 12 houses were handed over to the poor people of Rai Chand Abadi.