Sindh

Education goals: 'Nearly 0.25m more children to be enrolled by 2016'

Qaim Ali Shah was presiding over a Sindh Education Foundation meeting on Saturday

Our Correspondent January 23, 2016

Sindh Education Foundation aspires to register 0.25 million additional children in schools by the beginning of next academic year (2016-2017). PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: The Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) should make concerted efforts to enroll 250,000 more children in schools from the next academic year, said Sindh chief minister Qaim Ali Shah. "This may be taken as a target."

Shah was presiding over a SEF board of governors meeting at the CM House on Saturday.

SEF is entering into strategic partnerships with a number of credible and reputable organisations, including The Citizens Foundation, Indus Resource Centre, Sindh Madrassa Board, Indus Education Foundation, Tehzeeb Foundation and Education Fund for Sindh, to pool together resources, learning and implementation of its projects. This was stated by SEF managing director Naheed Shah Durrani.

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SEF aspires to register 250,000 more children in schools by the beginning of next academic year (2016-2017), she claimed. Quality for SEF is a non-negotiable agenda and it will not be compromised in pursuance of increasing enrollment, she added.

According to different surveys, around 2.5 million adolescents in Sindh have either dropped out of school or never been to a school, said Durrani. These children, especially the vulnerable group (such street children or bonded labour), aged somewhere from 9 to 18 years require combined accelerated learning and skill development programmes, she claimed.

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SEF proposed to launch an adult and adolescent learning programme for this segment of society, which has been approved by the chief minister. Currently, SEF is exploring options of partnerships with some reputable organisations already working with the vulnerable segments of the society, she added.

The meeting was attended by the development additional chief secretary Ajaz Ali Khan, CM principal secretary Alimuddin Bullo, SEF members Dr Kaiser Bengali and Dr Qazi Masood, education and literacy department special secretary Alia Shahid.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2016.