Youth ambassadors to present two million signatures

Initiative being taken in connection with two petitions


Our Correspondent August 19, 2015
The ITA has collected signatures nationwide for its #UpForSchool petition-an international campaign to demonstrate unprecedented public support for education. PHOTO: fb.com/RightToEducationPakistan

LAHORE: Education Youth Ambassadors (EYAs) affiliated with the Idara-i-Taleem-o-Agahi (ITA) will present two million signatures to lawmakers in connection with their #UpForSchool and End Child Marriage petitions, a statement issued on Wednesday said.

The statement said the signatures would be presented to parliamentarians over a series of events and initiatives being organised as part of a campaign to implement the Right to Education Act and put an end to child marriages. The ITA has collected signatures nationwide for its #UpForSchool petition-an international campaign to demonstrate unprecedented public support for education.

EYAs had presented the signatures to Provincial Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education Chairman Qamarul Islam Raja. Raja had informed the ambassadors that the government had been striving to reform the education sector with a two-pronged approach. He said the government had been focusing on the provision of missing facilities at public schools in the first phase. Raja said “100 per cent” facilities had been provided at girls’ schools. He said the target for boys’ schools had been realised in south Punjab while efforts were being made to actualise the aim in north Punjab. He said the government would strive to revamp the provision of quality education and 100 per cent enrollment at schools in the second phase.

ITA Programmes Director Baela Raza Jamil said the organisation had been presenting a series of demands along with the signatures before lawmakers that called for the immediate implementation of Article 25-A, adoption of similar acts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Jamil said the EYAs had also called on the federal and provincial governments to raise the education budget from two to four per cent of the GDP, ensure the provision of quality education for all; raise the age of marriage to 18 years, ensure that girls had access to secondary education and provide more opportunities for the young.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20th, 2015.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ