islamabad - Chairman Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) Engineer Qamar ul Islam Raja Saturday said the PEF was educating 2.1 million drop out students and providing free education.

Addressing as chief guest at a function held here in Jhattah Hathial, Chak Beli Road, organized by Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) and “Alif Ailan” he said, Punjab government was making efforts for promoting education and the School Councils had been made functional across the province.

On the occasion, representatives of School Councils, principals of different government schools, teachers, students and a large number of parents were present. He said the recruitment process of 42,000 teachers for educational institutes of Punjab would be completed this year while 100,000 teachers would also be recruited next year.

He underlined the need of collective efforts for promoting  education and highlight importance of practical involvement of teachers and parents.

In order to bring improvement in educational institutes, the Chairman said, the school councils were formed. The fully empowered councils had also been provided budgets, he said.

Eng. Qamar ul Islam said, Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif was giving special attention towards promotion of education and the pay scales of the teachers would also be revised soon. The PEF was trying to promote education among the poor who could not afford to send their children to schools. The PEF efforts would go a long way in eradicating illiteracy and ignorance from the province, he said.

The PEF has introduced various programmes based on public-private partnership for school education in the province.  Free educational initiatives of the PEF are the biggest venture of its kind in the province, he said.

He said that the PEF had also taken steps to ensure conducive atmosphere in its partner schools besides arranging capacity-building training for teachers and principals. Executive District Officer (EDO) Education Qazi Zahor ul Haq addressing the participants appreciated the efforts of NGOs being made for the promotion of education. The NGOs are trying to create link between teachers and parents, he added.

He stressed the role of school councils to make atmosphere more conducive for education and its promotion. The school councils should also come forward to play a role to control drop-out problem.

Executive Director SSDO, Syed Kausar Abbas hoped good results of the session titled Waldain ki Awaz held to highlight importance of education, spread awareness for provision of more educational facilities in rural areas, problems being faced by teachers and government educational institutes, the role of parents particularly to evaluate the educational performance of the children and to draw attention towards direct link between teachers and parents. Such programs would also be arranged in other areas, he informed.