Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat announced that the provincial government has decided to extend its laptop scheme to students of private educational institutions, with 10,000 laptops to be distributed under the initiative.
Declaring 2025 as a year focused on improving education, the minister said that, like the previous year, the government continued to introduce reforms aimed at strengthening the education sector.
Speaking about the Education Department’s performance, Hayat said that two million “ghost enrolments” had been removed from educational institutions. He added that teacher shortages were addressed through the rationalisation of 26,000 teaching posts.
The minister said syllabus reforms were carried out, examination reforms were introduced, and education boards were shifted to an e-marking system.
He added that the Punjab government also prioritised early childhood education by establishing Early Childhood Education (ECE) rooms in 10,000 schools. According to him, around 1.1 million male and female students benefit daily from the nutrition programme.
Hayat said 268 schools were upgraded across the province, while decisions were taken in 37 cases related to harassment of teachers.
He further said the process of appointing principals on merit in 450 colleges and vice-chancellors in 29 universities has been completed.
