Cash grants being given to mothers who enroll their daughters in schools: Maleeha Lodhi

Pakistan Ambassador to UN briefs Unesco conference about steps being taken to promote girls education in Pakistan

Referring to educational projects launched in Pakistan, Ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi said on Saturday that conditional cash grants are being given to those mothers who enroll their daughters in schools.

Addressing the Catalytic Partnerships for Gender Equality in Education event in United Nations, the ambassador said Pakistan has launched innovative schemes and pilot projects for girls' education.

Lodhi also said that the education voucher scheme launched in Punjab, as well as conditional grants that were given in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have helped in promoting education in Pakistan.

Highlighting the importance of girls’ education, speakers at an interactive session had also stressed the need for increasing the education budget.

Read: Int’l Women’s Day: Call for increasing education budget

The event, held in connection with the International Women’s Day at a hotel on Saturday, was moderated by Najma Pirzada while the panel comprised rights activist Farzana Bari, education reformer Mehnaz Aziz, mountaineer Samina Baig, social entrepreneur Fiza Farhan and poet Kishwar Naheed.

Wife of the German ambassador Tina Nunn delivered the welcome note.

Bari had proposed structural changes to debunk various myths and stereotypes surrounding feminism. She emphasised increasing the education budget and following the minimum four per cent requirement as laid down by Unesco. She also highlighted the importance of economic empowerment of women, linking it to gender equality and development, mentioning that 61 per cent of the female population was illiterate.

This article originally appeared on Radio Pakistan.