federal govet provided education on doorstep of needy children
Islamabad :26 April: The National Commission for Human Development on Wednesday launched a countrywide programme to educate one million out of school children under the auspices of the American Refugee Council.
During the initiative launching ceremony at Academy of Educational Planning and Management (AEPAM), NCHD chairperson Razina Alam Khan said it was encouraging to observe that the issue of the out of school children was drawing the attention of planners, donors and governments.
"The federal government has taken effective steps to handle the issue and therefore, the number of out of school children has reduced from 26 million to 22.6 million. we, the NCHD, has extensively addressed the issue with the help of other stakeholders and provided education on the doorstep of the needy and underprivileged children," she said.
The NCHD chairperson said she was delighted to see a commitment for educating one million out of school children affirmed by one of the friendly state of Qatar. "The education data shows that 49 per cent girls were out of school compared with 40 per cent such boys. Collectively, more than 40 per cent of the children aged 5-16 years are still not going to the school in the country. This situation halts the national progress and development and decreases literacy rate," she said.
Ms Razina Alam urged all stakeholders to step forward and complete that unfinished agenda. "The NCHD believes that the collective and collaborative efforts of all can contribute a lot to achieve 100 per cent enrolment rate," she said.
The NCHD chairperson said the organisation had already been working with the JICA, AQAL, Unicef, Unesco, Hashoo Foundation, Idara Taleem-o-Aagahai for ASER Report, Benazir Income Support Programme and Pakistan Human Development Fund on the issue and that the new collaboration with the ARC would help provide free education to one million OOSC.
She said the NCHD annually conducted a massive enrolment campaign in 124 districts of the country to have an access to all out of school children. "We've set up 5,949 feeder schools across the country and pioneered 100 madrassa schools in FATA, ICT, AJK and GB," she said.
Ms Razina Alam called for a detailed analysis of out of school children to complement work on it in all provinces and areas to scale up evidence based education activities and thus, ensuring that all children have an access to quality education.
She said the National Training Institute of the NCHD was established to ensure quality education by conducting research studies, capacitating staff in literacy and non-formal education, and developing need-based teaching learning resource packages for the NFE and literacy programmes.
The NCHD chairperson said the NTI working under the Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training was preparing the National Plan of Action (2018-2025) to help policymakers and education experts better address the issues and challenges of the education system.
Speaking on the occasion Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training, Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman said that the present government is keen for the promotion of quality education and enhancement of literacy rate in the country.
He said that the out of school children is one of the challenges but it is due to the steps taken by the present government that the number of the out of schools children has dropped phenomenally and enrolment in schools increased in the country.
Among other speakers were Ambassador of Qatar Saqr Bin Mubarak al Mansouri, federal education secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani, joint educational adviser Muhammad Rafique Tahir and BECS director general, who appreciated the efforts of the NCHD in the field of literacy and non-formal education.
The NCHD chairperson acknowledged the support of the education ministry and thanked all stakeholders for joining hands with her organisation to further the cause of education in the country.The news.
