Provincial Minister for School Education Rana Sikandar Hayat on Wednesday said that the provincial government was providing scholarships to 30,000 students under “Honihar” Scholarship program that would help them quench the thirst for knowledge and ensure the bright future. Under this program, the students from 50 public universities, medical colleges, numerous graduation colleges and private universities such as COMSAT, National University of Science and Technology, FAST and others would be awarded scholarship. He expressed these views during his address as the chief guest at the launching ceremony of the country’s first food and agriculture museum at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. He also chaired the International Seminar on “Lyallpur Agricultural College in transforming agriculture on Indo-Pakistani Subcontinent”. He said that quality education was the top priority of the government for which all possible measures were being taken.

He said the Punjab government was launching a laptop scheme for 40,000 students from December so that the students could play their role in the world of research and knowledge by benefiting from modern technology. He said this year, apart from science and arts, new domains were being introduced in Matric that included agriculture, information and communication technology, nursing and architect, arts and design. He said that the University of Agriculture Faisalabad had achieved remarkable achievements in developing agriculture on modern lines for the past fifteen years. He said that skill courses were being launched in schools and a comprehensive strategy was mapped out to improve the performance of government schools for a better future. He urged the people to work hard and ensure honesty that would open up new avenue of uplift.

UAF Vice Chancellor Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the university was converting the old campus into a museum so that story of agricultural evolutionary aspects to the latest technology could be presented before the public in an effective ways. He said that the university came into existence in 1906 as the Punjab Agricultural College and Lyallpur Research Institute and was the first agricultural institute of the subcontinent, which not only brought green revolution but also introduced innovation to agriculture. He said that at the end of the 19th century, the British government had set up the Famine Commission to formulate a strategy to deal with famine and other food challenges. This institution, UAF, was established on the recommendations of famine commission.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan