The Government of Punjab has unveiled a series of major education reforms aimed at improving access, quality, and standardisation across colleges and schools in the province.
Under the new initiative, students will be exempted from course fees ranging between $400 and $1,000. In addition, the chief minister has approved electric bus facilities for college students and the establishment of modern IT laboratories in 166 government colleges.
The measures are part of a broader effort to standardise college education throughout Punjab. During a high-level meeting reviewing progress in the School Education Department Punjab and Higher Education Department Punjab, directives were issued to accelerate school improvement projects, particularly in districts like Sargodha and surrounding areas.
The chief minister also instructed officials to ensure that all eligible students receive stipends under the Honhaar Scholarship Programme. Officials revealed that, for the first time in Punjab’s history, 62,949 students will receive scholarships in a single phase. The second phase will expand coverage to include visually impaired and other special students.
In another key development, all commerce colleges across the province will be affiliated with public sector universities. A total of 36 commerce colleges in 29 districts will be linked with 19 universities, with each college aligned to a university within its respective district.
To improve accountability, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be introduced for principals, teachers, and university vice chancellors.
Students from both public and private institutions will also benefit from short-term training programmes in emerging fields such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and business intelligence, offered through Google certification courses lasting three to six months.
According to the briefing, around 142,000 students have applied for phase-II of the Chief Minister Punjab Laptop Scheme, while 365 graduate students will receive scholarships worth Rs25,000 each.
In the first phase of the Honhaar Scholarship Programme, Rs2.38 billion was awarded to 5,282 students across 262 colleges, while the second phase sets aside Rs1.94 billion to support 4,310 students from 200 colleges.
The meeting further noted that approximately 9.94 million students participated in the PECTAA Grade-8 assessment exams, with a pass rate of 92% among girls and 84% among boys. The chief minister expressed satisfaction over the overall performance and progress of the education sector initiatives.
