The Prime Minister was talking to school children here after inaugurating a new building of Government High School (Boys), Balakot.
Despite bad weather in the affected areas, the Prime Minister specially visited Balakot to re-open the school where 735 students were studying on October 8, day of the devastated earthquake. Out of them 200 students besides four teachers had lost their lives while the building was damaged and the educational activities suspended since then.
With the inauguration of the newly constructed four rooms of the school, with the help of private sector, the students are able to restart their educational activities today after one month of the quake.
The Prime Minister while talking to students said the government wanted to reopen all the damaged schools without delay so that they could continue their education.
He said education was very important for the development of new generation and added that no nation could make progress without education. He said the government had been making sincere efforts to revive educational activities in the quake-affected areas as early as possible.
Shaukat Aziz asked the students to devote their abilities to get education and recover the one-month loss to their education.
Appreciating the quality of construction of the new building of the school, the Prime Minister told the students that they should concentrate on their education as the new building is quakeproof and suitable for winter season.
The Prime Minister said it was a very difficult time for the whole nation but expressed the hope that with the co-operation, dedication and devotion of the people and philanthropists, the government would be able to overcome all the difficulties.
Referring to the problems being faced by the people particularly the students after October 8 quake, the Prime Minister advised them to meet the challenges with courage.
He said the government had been providing best possible help, relief and assistance to the affected people so that they could revive their normal life.
The Prime Minister said more school buildings would be constructed with the help of private sector so that the educational activities could start without delay.
The students told the Prime Minister that they were living in the tents and were happy that they have come back to school after one month to restart their education.
The Prime Minister said the government was providing tents where buildings could not be repaired or construction of new building was not possible so that the educational activities could be restarted without delay.
The Prime Minister said more tents and blankets were being provided to the affected people and added that before end of November more than 300,000 tents would be available to the people in the affected areas.
He said an amount of Rs 25,000 each was being distributed so that the people living at the top of the hills could repair their houses and live honourably in the coming winter season.
He said the government would also assist the people in restarting their business, adding a plan is being prepared to provide loans to the people in the affected areas so that they could restart their business and revive normal life. The Prime Minister said the November 19 international conference being held in Islamabad would concentrate on rehabilitation and reconstruction of the affected areas with the help of international community.
The Prime Minister appreciated the hard work done by the federal and provincial governments and the army for revival of normal life in the affected areas.