The Pakistan Prime Minster’s Laptop scheme has recently entered its second phase and to add a cherry on top of the cake, the government has decided to move ahead with an improvement to the scheme.
The government has gone under an agreement with mobile telecom company Zong. Under this agreement, Zong will provide broadband internet connection facility to 100,000 students registered under the phase 2 of the Laptop scheme. Qualified students will be equipped with one hundred thousand 3G dongles by Zong.
The need for internet access is an integral part of the students activities during and after the academic years. So, the idea behind this collaboration is to provide deserving students with fast internet access across the country so that they can take full advantage of their laptops in pursuing knowledge. Since the scheme was already providing them with laptops, the addition of the Zong dongle will add up to their efficiency.
Regarding this development, the Chairman & CEO of Zong Mr. Liu Dianfeng has said,
“We appreciate Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif’s vision for putting more emphasis on education and vesting in the betterment of people of Pakistan. Education plays vital role in the progress of any nation. Zong takes it as its responsibility to contribute to the uplift of different social sectors. It is with this spirit that we have decided to come forward and assist the Government of Pakistan in its Prime Minister Laptop Scheme Phase II which will benefit thousands of bright students across the country.”
Under this new enhanced scheme, the qualified students will be provided with wireless internet access to global educational resources available on Higher Education Commission’s digital library through PERN (Pakistan Education & Research Network). In the current system, the access to the HEC Digital Library was limited to the students belonging to the campuses of the universities but after the availability of internet access, the domain will be available across the country.
Chairman of HEC, Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad has stated,
“Education can make a lot of difference in social well-being of nearly 47 million Pakistani youth among which over 2.6 million students are getting higher education. This initiative is an effort to provide more and more efficient means of education in line with Prime Minister’s vision 2025. HEC and Zong can work together to setup R&D centers, E-classrooms and innovation centers for youth capacity building. Pakistani youth is full of innovative ideas which need to be empowered through these platforms.”
Zong will play the role of a facilitator in the distribution and management of the internet facilities to the students.
Students are advised to contact their respective university management for the details of this scheme. However, the eligibility criteria and other related details are mentioned here.
Prime Minister’s Laptop scheme for students has made a lot of waves amongst the academic domains. Recently TechJuice also did a story regarding the illegal sale of the laptops, and the vow taken by HEC to take strict actions against the people who were involved in this activity.
We believe that for the young generation of Pakistan, these government backed actions are a necessity for academic and professional growth.
Press Release
