Government plans 500,000 Chromebooks for students over two years
Minute Mirror reports Punjab has been allotted 181,090 devices, Islamabad Capital Territory 100,000 and Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir 25,000 each, with 200,000 due this financial year.
The federal government plans to hand out 500,000 Chromebooks to students across the country over two years, with 25,000 of the devices allotted to Gilgit-Baltistan, according to a Minute Mirror report on the Prime Minister's Youth Chromebook Scheme.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was chief guest at the launch ceremony, organised by the Prime Minister's Youth Programme. The scheme will be run by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training with the youth programme, and T T Care Foundation will supply the 500,000 refurbished Chromebooks over the two years, the report said.
Punjab's allocation is 181,090 devices, Sindh's 85,925, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's 51,170 and Balochistan's 31,815. Islamabad Capital Territory is allotted 100,000, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir 25,000. The seven shares add up to 500,000. Another 200,000 devices are to be distributed during the current financial year, 2026-27.
Students in schools and religious seminaries are to receive Chromebooks along with internet access, and selected students will also get bags and MiFi devices so they can attend classes remotely and use libraries from home.
At the ceremony, the prime minister said wealth or poverty must not determine access to education, technology and opportunity, according to Minute Mirror.
The scheme extends the Prime Minister's Youth Laptop Scheme, first launched about a decade ago under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Minute Mirror reported that 600,000 laptops have been distributed under it so far, including in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and that 100,000 more are being distributed in its fourth phase.
The government presents the programmes as a response to Pakistan's age profile. The 7th Population and Housing Census, held in 2023, put the population at 241.5 million, with 26 percent aged between 15 and 29 and 53.8 percent between 15 and 59.
Chromebooks run Google's ChromeOS and depend heavily on internet connectivity and Google's cloud services, which keeps their cost below conventional Windows or macOS laptops but limits offline work and demanding software.
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