ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday that the government would hand out 500,000 Chromebooks to students across Pakistan over the next two years, as he launched the Prime Minister’s Youth Chromebook Scheme in Islamabad.
Shehbaz said the devices would be distributed on merit, on “ability and ability alone”, and that it was the state’s “collective responsibility” to put modern technology in the hands of young people. “Our boys and girls are the true assets of Pakistan,” he said.
“These wonderful instruments will be in your hands so that you are not lagging in intelligence and skills,” he told students, adding that he hoped the devices would let them attend school remotely and count themselves among the most educated people.
Seminary students included
The prime minister said students of religious seminaries would also be eligible, as they had been under earlier schemes. “In the past, we had given laptops to the students of prominent seminaries along with universities and colleges,” he said.
Education, he said, “should be the priority of any government.” “These Chromebooks will help you gain further education,” he said. “Education is a jewel; regardless of where you are from, it will always make you distinguished in society.”
From laptops to Chromebooks
Shehbaz said previous PML-N governments had distributed 600,000 laptops over a decade. In August he announced that 250,000 high-achieving students would receive Chromebooks this year. Pakistan launched its first Google Chromebook assembly line last year, a step Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar hailed at the time as a historic milestone.
The government has not said how much the scheme will cost or how it will be funded.∎
