Primary school graduation bonus for girls announced

SAPM says each primary student will get Rs3,000

ISLAMABAD:

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Dr Sania Nishtar on Friday announced a one-time primary school graduation bonus of Rs3,000 for girls to ensure their enrollment to secondary education.

During a visit to Talagang Tehsil of Chakwal along with the Ehsaas team, Dr Nishtar said that the one-time graduation bonus of Rs3,000 will be given to girls to encourage them to complete primary education and scale up the ladder for secondary education.

She said the incentive aimed to tackle gender disparity in the education sector.

“This will also ensure that every girl after receiving the graduation bonus gets enrolled in the secondary education programme,” she said.

This was the first visit of Dr Nishtar since the payments began on June 16, 2021, under phase-II of the Ehsaas Emergency Cash.

Separately, at a cash distribution ceremony in the municipal administration office, she interacted with Ehsaas beneficiaries who had come to collect their stipend. Each one of them had 8171 messages on their phones to collect emergency cash or Kafalat handout of Rs12,000.

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All of them had been identified and declared eligible through the new Ehsaas survey. Ehsaas emergency cash disbursements to the beneficiaries commenced last week.

A survey is also under way to make payments to the newly enrolled students identified through the Ehsaas programme.

Besides, several beneficiaries had come with their children to collect the quarterly payment of Ehsaas primary education conditional cash transfer (CCT) stipends.

Under the Ehsaas policy, all payments are biometrically verified in real-time. Under the programme, girls get Rs2,000 and boys to get Rs1,500 per quarter on 70 per cent attendance in school.

Dr Nishtar also joined children and their mothers at Government Boys High School, Akwal in Talagang to witness new enrolments of children from the poorest households under the Ehsaas education CCT.

The regional team of Ehsaas briefed Dr Nishtar on the recently launched nationwide drive to enrol deserving children for Ehsaas educational stipends. The campaign is being rolled out at the tehsil level in close coordination with provinces, the district administration and key development stakeholders. The campaign primarily aims to enhance primary school enrollments and minimize dropouts. The Ehsaas drive entails social mobilisation through tehsil level Ehsaas field teams, compliance monitors, school teachers and mosque announcements.

The Ehsaas education CCT programme is currently being executed at the primary level across all districts of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2021.