RAWALPINDI, Jan 19: Member Punjab Assembly Raja Fiaz Sarwar has said that the provincial government was committed to giving top priority to education and facilities to the people at all levels under a comprehensive programme.

He was addressing a prize distribution ceremony at the Government Post-graduate Girls College, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi. Prizes were given to the winners of essay and speech competitions held at divisional level.

Chairman, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Rawalpindi, Iftikhar Ahmed Baig, Secretary Prof Hamayun Iqbal, Principal Government Post-Graduate Girls College Satellite Town, Prof Waseem Sikandar, Executive Education Officer (EDO) Muhammad Yousaf, Deputy District Education Officer, Female, Sajidas Ahmed, heads of educational institutions, officers of education department, parents and a large number of students were also present on this occasion.

He said that students who participated in essay and speech contests demonstrated their best and outstanding performance in all rural and urban areas of the province.

Raja Fiaz Sarwar, MPA, said that the objective of holding essay and speech contests by the Punjab government was to provide opportunities to students from primary to post graduate level for promoting and improving their inner capabilities and talent and building their personalities by creating courage and confidence in them.

He said that it is the age of presentation, computer and demonstration and students having mere academic knowledge and having no capabilities of expressing themselves cannot be completely successful in the world.

He said that the government was trying to explore the talent and improve the wisdom of the students by improving their capabilities in instead of resorting on bookish knowledge, he said.

He congratulated the girl and boy students who captured positions in these contests at divisional level and awarded them cash prizes and certificates.

Speaking on the occasion Chairman, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Rawalpindi, Dr Iftikhar Baig said that co-curricular activities helped students in building their personality, and improving their talents.

He attributed the credit to the Chief Minister Shahbaz who set an example and encouraged students to demonstrate their talent and recognized their hard work for bagging positions in annual examinations at board and university levels by offering them cash prizes.