LAHORE: The Punjab government has announced a significant increase in funding for the education sector in the new budget for the fiscal year 2025-26. Key initiatives include expanding student scholarships, continuing the laptop scheme, and launching new education programmes.
Presenting the budget in the Punjab Assembly, Finance Minister Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman said that Rs15 billion will be spent under the Honhaar Scholarship Programme to provide financial assistance to talented and deserving students. “No bright student in Punjab should miss out on higher education due to lack of resources,” he said.
He also highlighted that during 2024-25, about 55,000 students were awarded scholarships worth Rs4.5 billion through an undergraduate scholarship programme managed by the Punjab Higher Education Commission. The total cost of the programme was Rs5.9 billion.
To promote digital learning, the CM Punjab Laptop Scheme continues to benefit university and college students. So far, 40,000 laptops worth Rs8.5 billion have been distributed. In the 2025-26 budget, the government has allocated Rs15.1 billion for the scheme, aiming to distribute laptops to more than 112,000 high-performing students next year.
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In addition to individual programmes, the finance minister announced a massive rise in overall funding for the education sector. He said that Rs148 billion have been allocated for development projects in education, which is 127% higher than last year’s development spending.
Moreover, the non-development budget for the education sector has been set at Rs661 billion, making up 24.4% of the province’s total non-development expenditure.
“Our government not only plans to continue many of the successful education programmes already in place but will also launch several new projects with long-lasting impact,” the minister stated.
