Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has decided to introduce the CM Education Card for school education in Punjab. Students who score more than 80 per cent marks will get a CM Eminence Star Card.

The chief minister was presiding over a meeting in which she was informed that the number of students has increased by 52 per cent and teachers by 89% due to the outsourcing of schools. After the implementation of Public School Reorganisation Programme in 5,863 institutions, the number of students has increased from 242,000 to 368,000. After the first phase of outsourcing, the number of teachers in the schools increased from 8,037 to 15,114.

The salary of teachers in the schools has increased three-fold. The number of chairs and desks for students increased from 371,000 to 523,000.

It was decided that modern schools of eminence of uniform standard would be established in every tehsil of the province.

The chief minister announced the establishment of a state-of-the-art lab for matriculation in technology. She also called for steps to include technical education as a subject from class five.

She said a record of saving of Rs1 billion had been recorded in a textbook project.

The CM set a deadline of 90 days for the provision of drinking water, furniture and whitewash in schools.

She also gave the authorities concerned a target of enrolling two million children in schools every year.

She ordered immediate steps to launch the school meal programme in Bhakkar, Layyah and other districts.

She issued directives to implement a key performance indicators (KPI) system to evaluate the education officers and teachers.

A pilot project of English conversation classes was launched in 338 schools of Lahore. It was agreed to launch international courses of English conversation in government schools with certificates.

The CM directed the relevant authorities to ensure strict implementation of zebra crossings on roads in front of schools across the province.

The CM was informed that the target of providing books at the beginning of the academic session in March had been accomplished in the province for the first time. Five teachers of government schools will go on a study tour of Scotland with the assistance of the British Council.