For many students in Pakistan, owning a laptop remains out of reach. A federal scheme aims to bridge this digital divide by distributing 500,000 refurbished Chromebooks to high-performing Grade 9 students over three years.
The idea is simple: expand access to digital learning for students across the country, according to officials. Called the Prime Minister’s Youth Chromebook Scheme, it is being run by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT) with the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme. Under a letter of understanding, the TT Care Foundation has committed to supply the devices.
Officials of the education ministry insist that the scheme reward results rather than recommendations. Students will be ranked on their latest SSC-I scores, verified by the Inter Boards Coordination Commission (IBCC), and must clear a minimum of 50%. Selection will run within each province or region, board and stream until the quota is exhausted.
The net is cast wide. Students at public schools, pupils at private schools funded through provincial education foundations and students of registered madaris are all eligible, according to the officials. Madaris students will be vetted separately, with the Directorate General of Religious Education.
Punjab has been allocated 181,090 devices, Sindh 85,925, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 51,170 and Balochistan 31,815. Islamabad will receive 100,000, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan 25,000 each.
Inside each province or region, say officials, four of every five devices will go to school students and one to madaris students. Among school students, science takes 70% and arts 30%.
The plan builds in safeguards from the merit list to the doorstep, say officials. Examination boards and the IBCC will verify results and help prepare merit lists, while provincial education departments and education foundations confirm enrolment and school affiliation.
Once the lists are final, each device will be linked to its recipient by serial number and checked against merit, enrolment, institutional affiliation and delivery details. Laptops will then go directly to verified students by courier, with a central monitoring system tracking every dispatch, delivery, failed attempt and receipt confirmation, according to officials.
An apex-level committee will provide strategic oversight, while MoFEPT leads the national rollout with provincial governments, which will name focal persons to help on the ground. Repair and maintenance will be provided through a contracted firm after the first year of delivery.
Officials reveal that grievance redressal committees will be set up at examination board and provincial or regional levels to handle complaints during selection, verification and delivery. These will cover merit ranking, inclusion or exclusion from lists, enrolment checks, examination data and devices not received, giving students and families a clear place to take their concerns.
For a student, a Chromebook can mean a window into a wider world of learning. The scheme’s design, with merit as the entry ticket, makes it a reward for effort at a time when many families find such devices out of reach. The scale is significant too. With 500,000 devices spread across every province and region, the scheme reaches from the biggest cities to the smaller boards, and it extends to madaris students who are often left out of such programmes.
If the plan is carried out as officials describe, with fair selection, timely delivery and proper tracking, it could do really good for the students it reaches. For a teenager who has worked hard in the classroom and never owned a laptop, it is a chance to own one.
