Students from Danish Schools to be assets for the country: CM

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that students of Danish Schools would prove to be Pakistanis in the real sense and would play an active role in the development of the country.

He said this while presiding over the seventh meeting of Danish Schools Authority on Wednesday. He said that the setting up of Danish Schools in backward and far-flung areas was promoting education in those areas, which would ultimately spread to every corner of the province. He said that six Danish Schools were imparting modern education to students in Bahawalpur division while eight more schools would be set up in Attock, Mianwali, Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan during the current year. Giving approval in principle to a special quota for students of other provinces in Danish Schools, the chief minister said that it would promote national solidarity and brotherhood in accordance with the policy of the Punjab government.

He said that while Pakistan had been created for the purpose of ensuring equal rights for all citizens, a handful enjoyed all privileges during the last 64 years while the majority of people remained deprived of even basic facilities. He said that all credit for bringing deprived segments of the society into the national mainstream went to Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), which diverted resources to marginalised classes and less-developed areas and laid the foundation for a revolution in the education sector by setting up Danish Schools in backward areas.

The chief minister directed that all individuals with urge to serve the country and equip new generations with modern education should be inducted in the board of governors of these schools. He issued instructions for taking immediate steps for the construction of mosques in Danish Schools and directed that administration of the mosques be completely free of sectarian prejudices and that students should be educated in the Quran and Hadith.

He said that financial assistance was being extended to talented students facing economic problems to allow them to pursue their academic activites through the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund. He said that the fund had been set up with a sum of Rs 4 billion and that an amount of Rs 2 billion was being added to the fund every year. He considered the establishment of the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund as a revolutionary step for the uplift of the education sector. He said that a quota for students from other provinces should also be reserved in Danish Schools in order to promote national solidarity and brotherhood. He said that a five percent quota had already been allocated for students of Cholistan in these schools. He said that students of other provinces had also been included in the programme inititated by the Punjab government according to which position-holders of the province are sent to the prestigious universities of the world and said that a quota in this regard should be reserved in Daanish schools for students of other provinces as well.