Students across country to get 500,000 Chromebooks over 2 years, announces PM Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday launched a scheme under which the government would distribute 500,000 Chromebook laptops to students nationwide over two years. He addressed the launch ceremony in Islamabad of the Prime Minister’s Youth Chromebook Scheme, a nationwide initiative to distribute 500,000 Chromebooks equipped with MiFi internet connectivity to deserving students and high achievers. Banners visible at the ceremony read “500,000 refurbished Chromebooks” were to be handed out. Expressing confidence in the initiative’s broad impact, the prime minister noted that the scheme’s internet connectivity features will extend benefits to family members, ultimately reaching an estimated 2. 5 million people.

He highlighted that the facility was available to students of religious seminaries, noting that previous laptop schemes had also successfully reached prominent religious seminaries. The prime minister stressed that the 500,000 Chromebooks will be distributed on the basis of the youth’s “ability and ability alone”. “These Chromebooks will help you gain further education, and in the future, these devices will help you secure employment,” the premier said. PM Shehbaz recalled that the previous PML-N governments distributed 600,000 laptops within a decade; however, he vowed that the government now aimed to distribute 500,000 Chromebooks in the next two years. “These wonderful instruments will be in your hands so that you are not lagging in intelligence and skills,” he said, stressing that intelligence and hard work should not be limited by poverty. The prime minister stressed that empowering the nation’s youth with modern tools was vital to helping them compete globally, while expressing gratitude to Tokyo Technology Care Foundation (TTCF) for partnering…