Islamabad’s out-of-school kids to be enrolled in a year

Ministry says regularisation of daily-wagers to be done as per court orders

ISLAMABAD: Even as the government launched a new survey to determine current numbers on out-of-school children in the city, the education authorities of the federal capital on Wednesday stated that they aim to enrol all out-of-school children within a year.

This was stated by the Federal Education Secretary Arshad Mirza during a meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Government Assurances. The committee had met at the Parliament House on Wednesday with Senator Tahir Bizinjo in the chair. During the meeting, Mirza gave a detailed briefing to the committee over assurances given by the ministry, including for the resolution of the issues faced by government schools in the federal capital. Among these issues were the appointment of 385 teachers, regularising 1,170 daily-wage teachers and increasing the enrollment rate in public schools. Regarding the appointment of new teachers, the secretary said that the ministry had sent cases of around 287 teachers to Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) for a review. Moreover, he said that the process of granting promotions to teachers was also under way.

On regularising daily-wage teachers, Mirza said that the matter as pending in the courts. He added that the ministry will act as per the verdict pronounced by the court.

He further said that the ministry was taking measures to improve the enrollment rate of children in schools of the federal capital and assured that all out-of-school children in the city will be enrolled in schools within a year.

In this regard, he said that they will seek the support of local, community schools and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). To learn about the latest number of out-of-school children in the city, he said that they were conducting surveys. Moreover, he said that the government was raising awareness amongst the parents of such children.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Fida Muhammad pointed to the rising use of drugs in schools and the alleged involvement of the school administration and locals in this regard.

National Party (NP) Senator from Balochistan Hasil Bizenjo, stated that per a research article, around 20 per cent of children studying in educational institutions have become drug addicts and that most of these children hail from rich families.

The committee demanded that the education ministry conduct a survey of schools in the federal capital to determine the actual number of students who use narcotics and submit the report to the committee. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2019.