TAXILA: Providing quality education is a priority for the Punjab government, which has taken several steps including launching the Enrolment Emergency Campaign 2016, said MNA Asia Naz Tanoli on Sunday.

She was speaking as chief guest at an awards distribution ceremony which was hosted by a local education department at the community centre.

Under the camaign, the education department has been tasked to ensure 95pc of children who are out of school and are between the ages of five and 16 are enrolled by October this year and 100pc by 2018. Ms Tanoli said.She said that the provincial government had set a target of enrolling 3.8 million children across the province in pre-primary and grade one, 7.7 million children in grade two and five and 3.7 million children in middle, secondary and higher secondary classes.

About 150,000 students who could not otherwise pursue an education because of financial restraints are being educated through the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund, she said and that the government has included all federating units in new programs to improve the field of education, including the educational endowment fund, Danish schools and laptop schemes.

The MNA urged parents to enrol their children in school in order to ensure a bright future for them and to make them good citizens and urged teachers to perform their duties well and to focus on character building.

Also speaking at the event was District Education Officer Shahida Hashmi, who said that a good teacher enjoys delivering lectures and is able to make students understand concepts and urged teachers to create a favourable environment in class rooms.

The environment in classrooms is improving because of various training programs and the induction of qualified and trained teachers, said Deputy District Education Officer Robina Rauf.

She said that a special drive has been launched in the Tehsil Taxila under the Universal Primary Enrolment campaign in order to ensure all children are enrolled in schools.

During the ceremony, those students who had earned distinctions in grade five and eight examinations held under the Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) and the teachers who secured 100 pc results were awarded.

Nosheen Bibi, Sabeeha Asif, Aneesa Bagum, Dr Mohammad Anwar, Ghazala Khan, Mubarik Ali Shah, Najma Shaheen, Zaheer Akhter and Saeeda Begum were awarded for securing good results for their classes in the fifth and eighth grade examination held under PEC.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2016