OKARA, March 7 Governor Khalid Maqbool said on Friday that President Pervez Musharraf's policies related to education would continue in the country.

He said this while addressing a ceremony to lay a foundation stone of the main campus of the Education University in Okara.

He said every politician would talk of bringing about political changes in the country but there were a few people who could develop the country.

The governor devoted most of his speech to eulogies the policies of former Punjab government, saying the it spent Rs90 billion to reform the education sector. He said that due to the reforms, two million dropouts had rejoined schools. He said our PhD scholars were contributing to international journals and our 'O' level students had achieved positions in the world. He said in spite of all these achievements, Pakistan was far behind in the sector from other countries.

He said the county could not achieve excellence without trained teachers, so the government had decided to initiate the University of Education. For the Okara campus, he said the Punjab government had allocated Rs350 millions while the Higher Education Commission Rs470 million.

Vice Chancellor Dr Munawar Mirza also spoke.

District Nazim Syed Asad Ali Gillani, MPAs-elect Nadeem Abbas Rubera, Javed Allauddin, Muhammad Ashraf Khan Sohna and Tehsil Nazim Rao Jamil Akhtar were also present.

Talking to newsmen later, Maqbool said the outgoing government's development policies would be retained by the new government, reports our Staff Reporter.

The governor said the new government would have to work for the betterment of masses and development in the country.

He said his government had developed universities, constructed roads and ports and gave scholarships to students through the Pakistan Baitul Maal.

He said people were the real guarantors of development in the country as they had given a vote of confidence to political parties and the parties would surely respond to people's expectations.

Mr Maqbool said the Election Commission had completed its job and President Pervez Musharraf would soon call the National Assembly session.