KARACHI:
It is indeed commendable that the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF), a public-private partnership model, is providing free and quality education to as many as 2.5 million students in 7,400 schools in 36 districts of the Punjab province. When I went through the PEF’s website, I was surprised that all these students are getting free education from class nursery to 10th at a very low per-student cost because the education is provided through private schools partnering with the PEF.
Students have mostly remained away from schools during the last one year due to the coronavirus pandemic which has decreased the learning opportunities for children. But it is amazing to mention that the PEF has enrolled more than three hundred thousand students in just 21 days. It is an encouraging sign and I hope that the PEF will keep the doors of education open to the needy children. I appeal to Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar to emulate the PEF model across Punjab. This will help the government deal with the issue of out-of-school children.
Ateeq-ur-Rehman
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, March 31st, 2021.
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