October 14, 2007	Sunday	Shawwal 1, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 13: Federal Education Minister Javaid Ashraf Qazi on Saturday called on Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and discussed with him matters pertaining to Punjab’s education system.

The minister said the provincial and the federal governments were striving for the progress of the education sector through cooperation in various fields.

The federal government was giving incentives to teachers, he said, adding steps taken by the provincial government for the improvement of the education sector had enhanced overall education standards.

The chief minister explained salient features of the provincial government’s education reform programme and said it would leave far reaching impact on the socio-economic progress of the country.

He said huge funds had been provided to private educational institutions through various programmes of the Punjab Education Foundation. The ‘historic’ relief package for teachers would help improve their lot, restore their respect in society and promote education in the province, he said.

The chief minister said 180,000 teachers of government and 46,000 of private schools had been given training under the cluster-based programme.

He said students of both public and private schools were being given free textbooks and this step was attracting more children to schools.