PM Youth Chromebook Scheme 2026: who gets the 500,000 free Chromebooks

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched the PM Youth Chromebook Scheme in Islamabad on Sunday, 25 October, promising 500,000 Chromebooks to students over the next two years. The first in line are high-scoring Grade 9 students at public schools and registered madaris, picked on their SSC-I marks rather than through an open application.

At the ceremony, the prime minister handed laptops and internet devices to a group of top Grade 9 and seminary students, Geo News reported. Dawn quoted him saying the devices would go out on “ability and ability alone”.

Who is eligible for the PM Chromebook scheme?

According to officials quoted by The News and Geo News, the scheme covers:

• students of public (government) schools,
• students of private schools funded through provincial education foundations,
• students of registered madaris.

The merit rule is simple on paper: students are ranked on their latest SSC-I (Class 9) result, checked by the Inter Boards Coordination Commission (IBCC), and need at least 50% marks. Ranking happens inside each province or region, each board and each stream until that area’s quota runs out.

One thing to watch: some guides based on the IBCC portal say only government-school students qualify, which does not match the foundation-school rule officials described. If your child studies at a foundation-funded school, check with your board before assuming either way.

How many Chromebooks for each province?

Geo News and ProPakistani published the same quota table:

Province / region	Chromebooks
Punjab	181,090
Islamabad	100,000
Sindh	85,925
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	51,170
Balochistan	31,815
Azad Jammu and Kashmir	25,000
Gilgit-Baltistan	25,000

Inside every region, four of each five devices go to school students and one to madrassa students. School devices are split 70% for science and 30% for arts. Madrassa students are vetted separately through the Directorate General of Religious Education.

Islamabad’s share stands out: one in five devices for a territory far smaller than Sindh or KP. Officials have not explained the figure so far.

Do students have to apply?

Not in the usual sense. Merit lists come from the examination boards and IBCC, and provincial departments confirm that each student is really enrolled. Each laptop is tied to its student by serial number and sent by courier, with a central system tracking dispatch and delivery.

If a name is missing, a mark is wrong or a device never arrives, complaint committees are being set up at board level and at provincial or regional level. Repairs after the first year are handled by a contracted firm.

What are the devices?

They are refurbished Chromebooks supplied by the TT Care (Tokyo Technology Care) Foundation, along with internet devices, according to Geo News. The scheme is run by the Ministry of Federal Education with the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, led by Rana Mashhood.

The timeline differs slightly between reports: the prime minister and Dawn said two years, while ProPakistani wrote three. We are going with the prime minister’s own words.

Why it matters

For a Class 9 student in a government school, a working laptop with internet can mean online lessons, coding practice or freelancing skills that were out of reach before. The earlier PML-N laptop schemes, which Shehbaz Sharif said put about 600,000 laptops in students’ hands over a decade. This one starts much younger, at Class 9.

The practical test comes next: whether the merit lists are published clearly and whether the courier deliveries reach students in Kohistan and Kech as quickly as those in Lahore.