He was addressing a ceremony held in honour of students of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) selected under revolutionary programme of Punjab Educational Endowment Fund at Chief Minister's Secretariat, here on Friday.
This programme has been started jointly by LUMS and Punjab Educational Endowment Fund. Provincial Minister for Finance Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, Provincial Education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, MNAs, MPAs, Chairman LUMS Syed Babar Ali, Vice Chairman Punjab Educational Endowment Dr Amjad Saqib, CEO PEEF Dr Kamran Shams, vice-chancellors of universities, scholars, columnists, teachers, students and their parents attended the function.
The Chief Minister announced that a number of scholarships for LUMS and FAST will be increased in next year and 50 talented male and female students each of these institutions will be given scholarships from Punjab Educational Endowment Fund.
Addressing the ceremony, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif said that he is feeling pleasure to see holding of this function in honour of talented students. He said that young generation is not only our precious asset, but is the custodian of the bright future of the country.
That is why we have started revolutionary programme like Punjab Educational Endowment Fund for the completion of educational activities of talented students facing financial problems and polishing their abilities, he added. He said that Rs four billion have been provided in this fund so far whereas this amount will be increased to Rs 10 billion during the next five years.
He said that thousands poor talented students after getting education through this fund will play their full role in the development of the country. Punjab Chief Minister, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif ,has said that the only way to get rid of poverty, slavery and begging is to equip the builders of the nation with quality education so that instead of becoming clerks, they should put the country on the road to progress and rapid development by serving in various fields, including science and technology. He said that gap between rich and the poor will be eliminated by ensuring judicious distribution of resources for making the country in accordance with the ideals of Quaid-e-Azam and Poet of the East Allama Iqbal so that a common Pakistani should realise that he has as much right on the resources of the country as have the handful elite.
He said that after giving scholarships to the hardworking and intelligent students through Punjab Educational Endowment Fund we can make this claim that now no intelligent student will be deprived of higher education due to poverty. He said that if we start such other programmes, Pakistan would become the Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal in real sense.
The Chief Minister said that when he decided to send the children of poor parents in prestigious institutions like LUMS and bear their expenses by the government, his some colleagues differed with him initially, but later they agreed with his opinion that we will have to provide admission to the talented students in best educational institutions of the country by removing the gap between rich and the poor in the society.
He said that we are providing resources to such an institution for the welfare of the poor, which is playing a key role for brightening the future of the country whereas on the other hand previous rulers with the help of dictator looted the resources ruthlessly.
He said that had the loans of billion of rupees not waived off in the history of the country, all facilities of life would have been available to the poor today and he would have been realised that he is living in the Quaid's Pakistan. He said if we want to reform the society and take the country forward then we would have to enforce the transparent and strict accountability system.
Shahbaz Sharif said that under the leadership of Quaid PML(N) Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, concrete steps have been taken for bringing the deprived segment of the society into national stream and such welfare programmes have been started which are helping in removing the poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and ignorance.
He said that criticism is being made on setting up of Danish schools project of Punjab government only for the reason that children of the poor will benefit from this project whereas nobody criticises on establishment of Aitchison, Grammar School, Cadet College and other prestigious institutions, as these are for the elite.
He said that government has promoted merit and has discouraged those who have usurped the right of deserving students by eliminating self-finance scheme from the educational institutions. He said that we will have to make the country, a great welfare state by utilising all our resources and energies and the elected representative should implement such welfare programmes.
He said that we will have to make untiring efforts for achieving lost image of the country and hardworking, dedication and honesty will have to be adopted as our motto. He appreciated the efforts of Syed Babar and Vice Chairman Endowment Fund for jointly launching this project by LUMS and Punjab Educational Endowment Fund.
Vice Chancellor LUMS Dr Ahmad Jan paid rich tributes to the Chief Minister Punjab for starting programmes for the encouragement of talented students and improvement of education sector in the province and said that LUMS is an asset of the country and is providing quality education to the students.
Vice Chairman Punjab Educational Endowment Fund Dr Amjad Saqib informed that during the first phase of the fund, 5326 talented students have been given scholarships on the basis of results of matric and intermediate 2008, and scholarships would be given to 5000 more students this year. He further informed that scholarships of Rs 120 million have been given to the students under this programme so far.