In a major policy move, the provincial government of Punjab has approved wide-ranging reforms in the education sector, including free Google IT certification courses, record scholarships, modern IT labs, and institutional standardization initiatives for students across the province.
The decisions were taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz in Lahore, focusing on improving both school and higher education systems.
Under the new initiative, more than 100,000 students will be provided free Google certification courses, which typically cost between 400 and 1000 US dollars. These courses will cover high-demand skills such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and business intelligence.
The government also approved a performance-based system for colleges and universities, introducing key performance indicators (KPIs) for principals, teachers, and institutional leadership to improve educational outcomes across the province.
In addition, a major scholarship program has been launched, under which 62,949 students will receive financial assistance in the largest scholarship distribution in Punjab’s history. Graduate-level scholarships have also been introduced for advanced education support.
To strengthen infrastructure, 166 public colleges will be equipped with modern IT laboratories, while dozens of commerce colleges will be affiliated with universities to offer updated degree programs in business, IT, finance, and e-commerce.
Student facilitation measures include the introduction of electric bus services and an expanded laptop distribution program, with priority given to merit-based and minority students. Thousands of students have already benefited from previous phases of the laptop scheme.
Officials further reported that over 142,000 applications have been received for the next phase of the laptop program, while education authorities have been directed to accelerate improvements in school systems across all districts.
