Punjab Minister for Literacy & Non-Formal Basic Education (L&NFBE) Raja Rashid Hafeez has said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government has accelerated its functioning in a ‘modernistic’ way, in all walks of life, to uplift the deprived segment of society.
He expressed his views while addressing the attendees of a consultative session, organised by Punjab L&NFBE Department at Children Library Complex on Tuesday.
The event was held to mark ‘International Literacy Day’.
Punjab Literacy Department Secretary Sumaira Samad, Special Education Director Shehzad Haroon Bhutta, Budget & Planning Additional Secretary Qaiser Rasheed, JICA representative Sajjad Haider, Bunyad Foundation’s Shaheen Atiqur Rahman, Alif Laila President Kazim Basharat and ITA’s Sonia Javed joined the plenary discussion.
The provincial minister stated, “The mandate of the L&NFBE department is provision of basic education to out-of-school children as well as teaching literacy and life skills to adolescents and adults.”
He informed the participants about the achievements of the department over the last two years, adding that under the supervision of Punjab chief minister, the department had formulated and launched the first-ever Punjab Literacy and Non-Formal Education Policy, 2019, for the sector in the province. “Our education policy aims to create an enabling environment and equitable opportunities for learners."
He further said, “We ensured third-party evaluation through Planning & Development Board DG (M&E) to evaluate the performance of our department’s interventions and the same report has been published.”
The M&E DG evaluated the projects of the department and recommended 1,007 posts for SNE on the basis of excellent performance, he elaborated.
The posts have been approved by the government to give fair opportunities to citizens on a merit basis, the minister explained. “It is a matter of pleasure that our department has successfully completed its six on-going development projects and formulated a project named Ilm-o-Hunar for provision of literacy along with vocational skills."
The government aims to contribute to the individual as well as collective development of society in many ways, he claimed. “Therefore, Punjab government accords due priority to literacy and basic education by giving opportunities for equitable access to quality literacy for all illiterate adults as well as out-of-school girls and boys and population of all ages in the province.”
The literacy minister revealed, “One of my department’s major milestones is the enrolment of 51,218 out-of-school children under Enrolment Campaigns 2018-19 & Enrolment Campaigns 2019-20 as well as the establishment of 377 Non-Formal Education Institutions (NFEIs) at brick kilns for 12,441 learners.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2020.
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