ISLAMABAD: Prime Mi­­nister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday announced a scheme to give 100,000 laptops to meritorious students as he emphasised the need to introduce modern modes of education, including digitisation and improved training of teachers.

“About 100,000 laptops would be distributed among the high achievers across the country,” the prime minister said while addressing the launching ceremony of the ‘TeleSchool Pakistan’ app.

Appreciating the efforts of the federal education minister, the ministry and other partners, Mr Sharif said it was a good day for the education sector as the latest technology was being used to further improve the quality of education.

The PM lamented that the quality of teachers was not up to the mark “which is unfortunate”.

He said steps were taken to improve the quality of about 40 teachers’ training centres in Punjab when he was the chief minister.

Inaugurates app ‘TeleSchool Pakistan’, announces distribution of 100,000 laptops

The prime minister added that vocational training programmes should be taken forward in collaboration with provincial governments and the private sector.

He urged Education Minister Rana Tanvir to chalk out a mechanism in consultation with provincial governments to improve the quality of teachers’ training.

Vocational training

Referring to the significance of technology in modern education, Mr Sharif said to equip the young generation with the latest education, they must be provided with laptops and other gadgets.

The prime minister emphasised that the students should be directly trained by the private sector and called for hiring the best private sector institutions and investing in imparting skills to each student.

The prime minister said the network of Danish schools would be expanded to far-flung areas of Balochistan and a huge investment plan would be devised for the project.

He expressed confidence that providing quality education to the students in Balochistan’s remote areas would help bring them to par with students in other parts of the country.

He also urged that the educational needs of orphan children should be taken care of.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Tanveer said there were about 22.8m out-of-school children in Pakistan and there were not enough resources to cater to their needs.

He said initiatives like the TeleSchool Pakistan app would help provide education to these children.

Addressing the ceremony, PTCL President and Group CEO PTCL Hatem Bamatraf said PTCL was proud of being part of the initiative which would help transform the educational system in Pakistan.

Earlier, the prime minister also distributed chrome books among students of Islamabad. As part of the initiative, 150 chrome books have been distributed among the students while another 6,000 chrome books would be distributed soon.

PM meets NDMA chief

In his meeting with the prime minister on Tuesday, the National Disaster Manage­ment Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik apprised him of

relief and rehabilitation efforts for the quake-affected population of Turkiye and Syria.

The NDMA chairman brief­­ed that 2,686 tonnes of tents have been sent to Turkiye via 69 flights, whereas another 2,597 tonnes of relief assistance had been dispatched to the two countries through the sea route, said a press release from the PM Office Media Wing.

Upon the direction of the prime minister, the National Disaster Manage­ment Autho­rity procured 50,000 tents, including fireproof ones.So far, a total of 36,402 tents have been sent by NDMA to Turkiye via 26 special flights, the press release added.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2023