He expressed confidence in Pakistan’s potential and stressed the importance of investing in talented young people to help them contribute to the country’s future.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday launched a programme to distribute 500,000 Chromebooks and provide internet facilities to talented students across Pakistan over the next two years, stressing that access to education and technology should not depend on financial circumstances.

Addressing a ceremony under the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, Shehbaz said intelligence and hard work should determine students’ opportunities rather than their wealth or poverty.

“Intelligence and hard work should not be held captive by wealth and poverty,” he said, emphasising that the devices would be distributed on merit among deserving students from schools and religious seminaries.

The selected students will also receive bags and MiFi devices to access the internet, attend online classes and use electronic libraries from home.

“Through these Chromebooks, you will be able to acquire knowledge and, as you grow up, become some of the most distinguished and capable people in this country,” the prime minister told the students.

He said the government was committed to ensuring that talented young people were not left behind in an increasingly technology-driven world.

Government Plans Faster Distribution Than Previous Laptop Scheme

Recalling the laptop distribution programme launched under former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz said around 600,000 laptops had been distributed on merit among students in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

He said the earlier programme had taken approximately 10 years to complete, whereas the government planned to distribute 500,000 Chromebooks across the country within two years.

“This is a remarkable instrument that will be in your hands so that you do not fall behind anyone in the world in terms of ability and intelligence,” he said.

The prime minister recalled that the previous scheme had benefited students from diverse backgrounds, including children who had lost their fathers and those whose parents worked as labourers.

Describing an interaction with a student at the ceremony, Shehbaz said he had asked the child about his father’s occupation.

“Prime Minister, my father is a labourer,” the student had replied.

Shehbaz said financial hardship should never prevent children from developing their abilities or pursuing an education.

Overseas Pakistani Supports Chromebook Initiative

The prime minister thanked Rashid Minhas, founder of the Tokyo Care Foundation, for contributing to the initiative.

He expressed gratitude on behalf of the government and the students who would benefit from the programme, saying the contribution reflected the confidence of overseas Pakistanis in the country’s young people.

Shehbaz said Pakistanis living abroad worked hard to promote the country’s image internationally and that the donation recognised the intelligence and potential of Pakistani students.

Twenty-Seven Daanish Schools Under Construction

Shehbaz also highlighted the government’s efforts to improve access to quality education through the Daanish schools programme.

He said he had inaugurated a Daanish school in Islamabad a few days earlier, while 27 additional schools were under construction across the country.

The schools would offer quality education, qualified teachers and modern facilities, including smart boards, electronic libraries, sports grounds, residential dormitories and food services, he said.

“No child has to spend a single penny at these Daanish schools,” the prime minister said, stressing that financial circumstances should not stand in the way of education.

He described it as the government’s responsibility to ensure that children received the education and facilities they deserved.

“It should be the foremost duty of any government to build the future of the children of this nation, help them become great individuals and great Pakistanis, and remove the obstacles standing in their way,” he said.

PM Highlights Challenges Faced by Students

During his address, Shehbaz referred to two students who spoke at the ceremony and described the difficulties they had overcome to continue their education.

He mentioned Syed Shams Raza, a student from a tribal area whose father had been martyred, and praised his resilience in the face of hardship.

“Just consider how this child is facing the hardships of life; you and I cannot even imagine it,” the prime minister said.

He expressed confidence that Pakistan had many other talented children facing similar challenges but determined to pursue their ambitions.

Shehbaz also praised a girl from Baltistan who attended a religious seminary and spoke confidently about her education and future goals.

The student had said she was passionate about studying but believed that students from religious seminaries would not receive laptops or Chromebooks.

The prime minister said he wanted to remove that misconception, noting that earlier laptop distribution programmes had included students from prominent religious seminaries as well as universities and colleges.

He said the new initiative would also cover students from schools and seminaries, with selection based on merit and hard work.

“Only your hard work and ability will be the criteria,” he said.

Chromebooks Expected to Support Education and Employment

Shehbaz said the devices would help students continue their education and could also become a source of livelihood when they entered the workforce.

He pointed to the experience of the previous laptop programme during the Covid-19 pandemic, when students relied on technology to attend university classes and continue learning despite widespread disruption.

The prime minister said many beneficiaries of earlier schemes had subsequently secured employment and become doctors, engineers and other professionals.

He said the experience demonstrated the importance of providing talented students with the tools needed to fulfil their potential.

“Education is an adornment that makes you stand out in society, regardless of where you come from,” Shehbaz said.

“Wealth can be stolen, prosperity can disappear, and there can be profit and loss, but no one can steal education, and no one can steal ability,” he added.

Concluding his address, the prime minister invoked the poetry of Allama Iqbal, linking determination, confidence and the pursuit of new ideas with national progress.

He expressed confidence in Pakistan’s potential and stressed the importance of investing in talented young people to help them contribute to the country’s future.

Background: Pakistan Expands Digital Education Initiatives

The government has previously distributed around 600,000 laptops to students on merit under the Prime Minister’s Youth Laptop Scheme, launched in 2014. In 2024, 100,000 laptops were distributed, while another 100,000 were announced for talented students in 2025.

The Chromebook initiative follows efforts to expand local technology production. In November 2025, Google began manufacturing Chromebooks in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence Production and the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation in Haripur, with plans to produce approximately 600,000 devices annually.

Pakistan also signed an agreement with Google in August 2026 to provide students with one year of free access to advanced artificial intelligence tools, including Gemini, and offer 150,000 Google Career Certificates to young people during 2026.