May 30, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1428

LAHORE, May 29: The Punjab government is going to establish libraries in all schools in the province to encourage reading habit among children and to impart quality education to them.

Punjab Education Minister Imran Masood said this while inaugurating US Consulate’s information resource center (IRC) here on Tuesday. Consulate’s Principal Officer Bryan Hunt also spoke on the occasion.

The minister said libraries were very important for education, but unfortunately there was none in 60,000 Punjab schools. The government, he said, was now going to set up one-room libraries in all such schools with the help of a German donor agency.

He regretted schoolteachers’ strike which badly affected the middle and 5th class examinations. “We want their welfare but their behaviour was affecting children appearing in the examinations. We will not allow blackmailing,” he said.

He said the provincial government would enhance the education sector budget in the next fiscal year.