FAISALABAD, June 3: Provincial Culture and Youth Affairs Minister Chaudhry Shaukat Ali Bhatti has urged private educational institutions to accommodate the poor and deserving students.

He was speaking at a seminar on the “Role of private institutions in the promotion of education” held at the TMA (city) hall which was organized by the All-Pakistan Private Schools Alliance on Tuesday. MPA Dr Muzaffar Ali Sheikh, city tehsil Nazim Mumtaz Cheema, alliance chairman Sadaqat Lodhi and teachers attended the seminar.

He said private institutions were doing a social service but they should expand their service to the poor so that intelligent students could get education and serve the country.

Mr Bhatti said the government would spend Rs18 billion for bringing about reforms in the education sector during the next three years.

The minister said after announcing free education up to matric, the government had decided to earmark Rs6 billion in the coming budget for the promotion of education. The amount would be spent on providing basic facilities in educational institutions, upgrading schools and imparting training to teachers.

MPA Muzaffar Sheikh correlated socio-economic development to modern education and said the nations who excelled in the field of science and technology had achieved a dominating place in the world.

He said without the cooperation of private sector no government could bring socio-economic prosperity.