Capital’s schools may serve lunches to students

Education Minister Shafqat Mamood says over 7,000 out-of-school children enrolled in three months

ISLAMABAD: The government is planning to launch a school food programme in schools run by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), said Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Tuesday.

He was speaking at the inauguration of Star School Centre set up in Sector G-7 Girls School to enroll the capital's out-of-school children.

The minister said the food programme will improve health of students and give an incentive to parents to send their children to school.

Mahmood claimed that after enrolling over 7,000 out-of-school children, his ministry will bring every child of the capital to school.

He said the campaign would be replicated in all parts of the country to bring every child to the school. The government was committed to ensuring that every child in the country goes to school, he added.

He said the drive to raise the number of school goers in Islamabad was in full swing and every child who reached the age of attaining an education would be enrolled in the city's schools by the end of this year.

The biggest challenge for the capital's schools was to keep the newly enrolled children at the schools, he added. He expressed his gratitude to the stakeholders who were playing a great role in enrolling out-of-school children. Shafqat urged all the schools operating across the country, to inform the ministry about their issues, if any, on its official website (www.moent.gov.pk).

China to build 29,000 school football fields by 2020

FDE Director General Syed Umair Javed, FDE Director Asif Iqbal Niazi, Area Education Officer Prof Aftab Tariq, Sohail Khan, Dr Ehsan Mahmood, Anwar Khan, Nazmin Sohail and others were also present on the occasion.

A 10-point agenda is being pursued to promote book reading culture for the common benefit of the younger generation and publishers working across the country, said Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Tuesday.

The plan would not only help revive book reading culture in the country but also resolve the financial issues of publishers, the minister said during a special meeting arranged by the National Book Foundation. The meeting was attended by a large number of publishers and book sellers from Lahore who came to discuss the issues being faced by the private book publishing industry in the country, said a press release issued here.

Under the agenda, Mahmood said the government was planning to mark next year as 'Book Year' and formulating a policy that would help promote the culture of gifting books at a governmental level. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2019.