LAHORE: The Punjab government on Monday launched a free official repository of online, digitized science textbooks of class-IX and X augmented with videos, animations and simulations to enhance conceptual learning and improve quality of education.

The online treasure of knowledge, available at eLearn.Punjab, will also help students to get rid of tuition centres mafia and help students to self-tutor themselves.

The schoolteachers will also be able to benefit themselves to use the focused as well as supplementary information to prepare their lesson plans.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif launched the online textbooks repository eLearn.Punjab at a ceremony at Arfa Karim Software Technology Park on Monday.

The chief minister said the online repository would revolutionize the e-learning concept in Punjab as well as across Pakistan. “The government will soon bring class-V, VIII and XII books online along with videos, animations and simulations to educate students as well as teachers.

Shahbaz said the government was planning to establish libraries in each city and towns in the province to promote reading habits among students as well as the masses.

He also urged Education and Sports Minister Rana Mashhood to include a segment of studies and books in the upcoming Punjab Youth Festival. “Only those nations progress who read books and gain knowledge,” he added.

In order to offer hands on training to the youth in the province, the chief minister said the Punjab government had entered into a partnership with the Department for International Development (DFID) and contributed Rs2 billion and Rs4 billion, respectively.

Under the programme, he said, the Punjab Skills Development Authority had hired the services of hotels, handicrafts, potter-works and other companies to train the youth.

He said the Punjab government would pay the cost to companies for imparting of training. “This programme, launched from the south Punjab, is being expanded to 18 districts in the province,” he said.

The chief minister said the government had also introduced the internship scheme for students and was offering them training in the corporate sector. “The decision to offer training to youth by the corporate sector was taken for a lack of capacity in the public sector,” he said.

Shahbaz said the Punjab government had distributed 210,000 laptops among talented students in the universities and was planning to provide tablets to merited students in schools. “The provision of laptops worth Rs8.5 billion to talented students was not expenditure but an investment,” Mr Shahbaz said.

He said the newly-established Information Technology University was offering quality IT education to 300 students at the graduate and postgraduate level.

The chief minister said the government had this year brought 1.5 million out-of-school children to schools and was all out to face the challenge of their retention in schools.

Earlier, Education Minister Rana Mashhood said the government had allocated Rs7.5 billion for the provision of missing facilities in all girl schools in the province.

He said the government had also finalised the construction of 1,500 new classrooms in existing schools.

Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) chairman Dr Umer Saif also spoke.