ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday launched a scheme under which the government would distribute 500,000 Chromebook laptops to students nationwide over two years.

He addressed the launch ceremony in Islamabad of the Prime Minister’s Youth Chromebook Scheme, a nationwide initiative to distribute 500,000 Chromebooks equipped with MiFi internet connectivity to deserving students and high achievers.

Banners visible at the ceremony read “500,000 refurbished Chromebooks” were to be handed out.

Expressing confidence in the initiative’s broad impact, the prime minister noted that the scheme’s internet connectivity features will extend benefits to family members, ultimately reaching an estimated 2.5 million people.

He highlighted that the facility was available to students of religious seminaries, noting that previous laptop schemes had also successfully reached prominent religious seminaries.

The prime minister stressed that the 500,000 Chromebooks will be distributed on the basis of the youth’s “ability and ability alone”.

“These Chromebooks will help you gain further education, and in the future, these devices will help you secure employment,” the premier said.

PM Shehbaz recalled that the previous PML-N governments distributed 600,000 laptops within a decade; however, he vowed that the government now aimed to distribute 500,000 Chromebooks in the next two years.

“These wonderful instruments will be in your hands so that you are not lagging in intelligence and skills,” he said, stressing that intelligence and hard work should not be limited by poverty.

The prime minister stressed that empowering the nation’s youth with modern tools was vital to helping them compete globally, while expressing gratitude to Tokyo Technology Care Foundation (TTCF) for partnering in the Chromebook initiative.

At the outset of his address, the premier stressed that it was his duty and the state’s “collective responsibility” to provide the youth with modern technology, so they could become “the great builders of Pakistan”.

“Our boys and girls [..] are the true assets of Pakistan,” the prime minister remarked. He added that the Chromebooks were being distributed based on the youth’s hard work and ability.

He hoped students would be able to “attend school remotely [..] and find themselves amongst the most educated people” with the help of the device.

Recalling the recent inauguration of a Daanish School in Islamabad, PM Shehbaz stressed that education “should be the priority of any government”.

“For the development of the nation’s children, all the resources should be provided,” he said.

“Education is a jewel; regardless of where you are from, it will always make you distinguished in society,” he remarked.

The event was attended by ministers, parliamentarians, the Punjab Assembly speaker, educationists, vice chancellors, ambassadors and foreign guests.

Ministers hail inclusion of seminary students

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif particularly highlighted the inclusion of seminary students in the scheme.

In a post on X, Dar said, “Including madrasa students marks a historic national consensus that every child deserves the tools of the modern world.”

Asif said that “madressah students were kept away from the mainstream for years”. He stated that one out of every five Chromebooks will be given to a student of a registered seminary under the new scheme.

Addressing the Chromebook distribution ceremony, Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui emphasised that the government was striving to elevate Pakistan’s global standing by adapting to evolving educational trends.

He noted that transforming the country’s 150 million youth into a productive national asset was crucial to ensuring the youth demographic drives progress rather than becoming a challenge.

TTCF Chairman Rashid Minhas also spoke about the partnership, noting that the memorandum signed with the government aims to empower students to become creators in the digital world and spur a national digital revolution.

Meanwhile, PM’s Youth Programme Chairman Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan praised the prime minister’s vision for recognising young talent with the support of the overseas diaspora.

In August, PM Shehbaz, speaking on the occasion of International Youth Day, said that 250,000 high-achieving students would be awarded Chromebook laptops this year.

Last year, Pakistan launched its first Google Chromebook assembly line and hailed it as a “historic milestone” that would make digital tools more accessible.

At the time, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar had said the assembly line’s establishment held great economic significance as it laid the “foundation for jobs, supply chain, development and future tech exports”.