6.3m students to get free textbooks

LAHORE: About 6.3 million public school students of classes 1 to 5 will get free textbooks, something that will cost the Punjab government Rs 420 million, Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi told President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday.

Briefing the president on the Punjab Education Sector Reforms Programme at Governor’s House, Mr Elahi said the provision of free textbooks, free education up to Matric and Rs 200 stipends to girl students every month had boosted admission rates by 15 percent. He said the Punjab government would bring in trainers from abroad to train English and maths teachers.

Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool said the Punjab government was vigorously patronising the higher education sector. He said a system was being set up to establish permanent contact between government universities to improve the standard of research.

Mr Maqbool said President Musharraf’s decision to put medical education in the Punjab under one roof at the University of Health Sciences had begun yielding positive results. app

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