Punjab Education Foundation enrolment surpasses 4 million, says Rana Sikandar Hayat

The number of students enrolled under the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) has crossed the 4 million mark, with more than 2 million new students added over the past two years, Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat said on Wednesday.

Speaking about the expansion of the province’s education initiatives, the minister said Punjab had emerged as the world’s largest public-private partnership model in the education sector.

He said the PEF budget had now reached Rs85 billion, adding that funding for the foundation had increased by 250 per cent during the last two years.

Rana Sikandar Hayat said the rapid expansion of the education programme had also created significant economic opportunities across the province. According to him, nearly 100,000 employment opportunities had been generated, while more than 30,000 individuals had become school owners under various education initiatives.

The minister further stated that 300 modern educational institutions had been established under the “Nawaz Sharif School of Eminence” programme at a cost of Rs12 billion.

He said the Punjab government’s objective was to ensure access to quality education in every union council of the province, adding that the outsourcing of schools was being carried out strictly on merit.

Highlighting future targets, Rana Sikandar Hayat said the provincial government aimed to increase the number of students benefiting from PEF programmes to 5 million within the next two years.

The minister also expressed satisfaction over the conduct of examinations, stating that not a single paper leak incident had been reported during the Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) exams.

He added that consultations were underway regarding the establishment of summer camps during the upcoming summer holidays to facilitate students’ academic and extracurricular development.