Higher Education Commission finally announced that the PM laptop scheme will resume in a few days. HEC announced the good news after the current government announced that it would resume its PM laptop scheme. Ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif initiated this laptop scheme under Youth Development initiatives back in 2014. Since then, many students who have achieved highly in their academic careers have received laptops under this scheme. Chairman of the High Education Commission Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed announced the good news for students.
While announcing the PM laptop scheme said that the applications will open in a few days. HEC chairman announced the news while talking to journalists in Karachi. He said that not only HEC will resume the PM laptop scheme but is also planning to launch online courses as well. These online courses will be available to students to enhance their skills in terms of technology.
He said that Major Global organizations such as Microsoft, Coursera, and a few others will assist in launching these courses. Chairman HEC said that these courses will help the students with their studies as well as their skill-building. However, he also said that these courses will only be available for students actively enrolled in any university.
Moreover, the chairman of HEC has said that the government has allocated a budget of about 10 billion for the PM laptop scheme. According to HEC, students of BS, Masters, MPhil, Ph.D., and even Undergraduates can avail of laptops based on their academic performance. The government has formed a complete committee of HEC to finalize the evaluation criteria for the distributions.
Besides that, the chairman of HEC also shared a brief explanation of the current economical situation of HEC. He requested the government to stop any plans for new universities due to the economical condition of the country. He said that the budget allotted by the government is not enough for all universities. Hence this time HEC has decided that it would distribute government educational funds using performance evaluation.
In addition, he said that universities have established over 5000 affiliated colleges. However, the quality of education in these colleges is not satisfactory. HEC has warned such universities to either improve the quality of education or shut down the affiliated colleges once in for all.