Business Recorder
LAHORE: Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif has approved free Google certification courses for more than 100,000 students across the province. Under the initiative, students will not be charged fees ranging from 400 to 1,000 dollars for Google certification courses. She also approved the provision of electric bus facilities for college students and gave approval for the establishment of modern information technology laboratories in 166 government colleges across Punjab. In-principle decision was taken to standardize college education across the province. In a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister to review the progress of School Education and Higher Education Department projects, the CM directed that work on the improvement of schools, including those in Sargodha and other districts, be expedited on an emergency basis. The CM ordered that all eligible students be provided stipends under the Honhaar Scholarship Programme. It was informed that, for the first time in Punjab’s history, 62,949 students will be awarded scholarships in a single tranche. It was further noted that 98 percent of students have expressed satisfaction with the Chief Minister Punjab Laptop Scheme. It was also stated that in Phase-II of the scheme, visually impaired and other special students will be included. The meeting approved the affiliation of all commerce colleges with public sector universities. In this regard, 36 commerce colleges in 29 districts will be linked with 19 government universities, and each commerce college will be affiliated with the respective public university in its district. For the first time, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be introduced for principals, teachers, colleges, and vice chancellors of universities to evaluate performance. Students of both public and private educational institutions will be provided training in cyber security, artificial intelligence, business intelligence, and other short courses of three to six months duration under Google certification programmes. The briefing further stated that 142,000 students have applied for Phase-II of the Chief Minister Punjab Laptop Scheme, while 365 graduate students will be awarded scholarships of Rs25,000 each. Under Phase-I of the Honhaar Scholarship Programme, Rs2.38 billion was disbursed among 5,282 students from 262 government colleges, while Phase-II allocates Rs1.94 billion for 4,310 students from 200 colleges. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
Go to News Site