LAHORE: The Punjab government has proposed a record increase in allocations for the education sector to the tune of Rs310.20 billion which is around 27 per cent of the total financial outlay for the 2015-16 fiscal plan.

The allocations for education, higher education and school education in 2014-15 were Rs89.375 billion which were revised to Rs58.678 billion, according to the budget documents for 2015-16 presented in the Punjab Assembly on Friday.

In the school education sector, major targets fixed for the next fiscal include provision of missing facilities to 7,500 schools, opening of 500 new schools, provision of solar solutions to around 5,000 off-grid and another 5,000 schools, provision of information technology laboratories to 990 secondary and higher secondary schools having highest enrollment, provision of 2,500 additional classrooms to thee schools having highest enrollment and reconstruction of 4,727 dangerous buildings of schools.

In the higher education sector, Rs2 billion were earmarked for setting up of the Lahore Knowledge Park and Rs2 billion for the Punjab Education Endowment Fund.

The other target set for the sector include establishment of 37 colleges, provision of missing facilities to 58 colleges, distribution of laptops among talented students, establishment of women universities in Multan and Bahawalpur and upgrading of Government College for Women, Madina Town, Faisalabad, into a university.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2015

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