Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti on Sunday inaugurated the Naway Sahar Laptop Scheme by distributing 35 laptops among the topper students of BS Program under University of Peshawar and students of three affiliated degree colleges.
Around 23,147 laptops will be distributed through the scheme among the students who would achieve 70% or above marks in their last semester. Similarly, those students who would secure 60% marks during their annual examination will also be eligible for the laptop.
Similary, top forty position holders of government institutions from each board of intermediate and secondary education and board of technical education would also get laptops. Speaking on the occasion said from the day first education was priority of his government and for that purpose eight new universities were established, he added.
The Chief Minster said to cater with requirements of the modern education the laptops were necessary for students. He said the government had allocated one billion rupees in current fiscal budget for launching laptops scheme.
He directed ensuring transparency in the procurement and distribution of the laptops among some twenty three thousand plus students studying in the various degree programmes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s public sector universities.
He went further that VCs and heads of institutions should look to ensure distribution of laptops among the deserving students. Talking about the financial position of UoP and other public sector varsities in the province, the Chief Minister said that it was federal government’s responsibility to provide funds till next NFC Award to public sector varsities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, however, he added KP government would also provide every possible support to the varsities, he promised.
Chief Minster also announced grant of rupees one hundred million rupees to UoP for purchasing buses for facilitation of the students and a sum of Rs 10 million for golden jubilee celebrations of Peshawar University Teachers Association (PUTA).
About the allocation of funds for education he said the budget for higher education has been enhanced from a Rs one billion in 2007-08 to five billion in the year 2012-13. He added since independence there were only 137 colleges in the province till 2008. The ANP government has approved 72 new colleges during the last five years. Amongst the proposed colleges eighteen have already been made functional, Hoti added.
Sharing his concern over the status of female education in remote areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Chief Minister said, not a single girl student appeared for metric examination from Torghar area last year and more or less the same situation persisted in Kohistan. In order to improve upon this gloomy picture his government has decided to give cash money of amount Rs. 1500/- to families of girl students studying in these areas in class 1-5 and Rs. 2000/- each to those studying in class 6th to 7th. A five year monetary plan has been made for the same purpose and amount for the entire period has been spared already for the scheme in order to improve female education in the province.
He urged the students to serve as ambassador of peace for this region by getting excellent quality education.
The Laptops were provided by Dell Company through supplier Mega plus Pakistan. The Laptop are core i5 with 2 GB RAM, 500 GB hard disk, DVD writer, bluetooth, built in cam, window original, logo of Naway Sahar with a warranty of fifteen months.
Vice Chancellor of University of Peshawar Dr Rasul Jan in his speech expressed his pleasure over visit of first Chief Minister to UoP in last forty years.
VC said UoP was passing through a difficult time. The transitional phase of devolution of Higher Education to provinces, after the eighteenth constitutional amendment, has led to serious financial problems for the mother instituted of higher education in the province, where most of our developmental projects and academic growth have come to a halt, he said. The situation has aggravated to a level where it has become difficult for us to meet the recurring budget, and extending financial help to University students from our own resources, the Vice Chancellor added.
He requested the Chief Minister to take the issue of adequate funds allocation for varsities to relevant quarters for a tangible solution.
Source : The Frontier Post
