Enrolment drive: Taleemi Karavaan sets off on five-day campaign

The caravan will travel 1,500km and campaign for education in 14 districts.

LAHORE:

A Taleemi Karavaan (education caravan) will hit the road on a five-day campaign on Monday (today). It is a part of the government’s emergency enrolment drive.

The programme was launched on August 14 and aims to target 3.5 million children between the ages of four and 16. Alif Ailaan is working on lobbying for right of school education for all children.

The caravan comprising five vans will carry volunteers to as many as 14 districts via the Grand Trunk Road.

A 1,500 km journey is planned. The volunteers will spread awareness regarding the government’s enrolment drive and the importance of enrolling children in schools.

“There is a disconnect between the state and the society. The caravan aims to fill that,” says Imran Khan, campaign manager at Alif Ailaan.

Khan says the aim of the caravan is to support the government’s efforts while engaging with stakeholders. Khan says districts with low education performance indicators have been selected for the caravan.

These include Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Gujranwala, Lahore, Okara, Chiniot, Faisalabad, Jhang, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahalwapur.

“We understand that greater enrolment is not enough to claim an educated population. But access to education is a fundamental right,” he says.

Khan says access cannot be compromised for better quality.

“Once children are brought to schools, the schools need teachers, infrastructure and a learning environment to ensure productive outcomes,” he says.

Sofia Amir, a campaign worker in Okara, says, “Many facilities are missing in schools here [in Okara].

“When we try to persuade parents to send their children to schools, they what will that accomplish,” she says.

Alif Ailaan network coordinator Amir says many public schools lack drinking water and toilets.  “If a child has to go home from school to drink water, how would parents be motivated to send their children to school?”

According to Alif Ailaan stats, the current net enrolment rate in the Punjab stands at 64 per cent. This year nearly 2.7 million children in the province will turn five.

It is estimated that 54 per cent of girls currently enrolled in schools and 46 of per cent boys will drop out of schools in the next five years before they complete their primary education.

The caravan is also being supported by the National Youth Assembly (NYA).

“Out of school children are a ticking time bomb,” says 26-year-old Hanan Ali Abbasi, president of the NYA.

As many as 1,000 members of the NYA are participating in the enrolment drive in 14 districts.

Abbasi says the solution lies in mobilising the citizens, particularly the youth.

“It is necessary to utilise this manpower to not just create awareness but also for solutions,” he says.

Waqas Bajwa, regional manager at the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), says advocacy and awareness form an integral component of any public drive.

ITA is also supporting the caravan.

“This caravan is a long march for education,” he says. “We have had long marches for political objectives. Let’s see how the society reacts to one for education.”

Rural Support Programme Network (RSPN), a network of 12 organisations working across Pakistan in rural areas, has recently conducted a households survey identifying out of school children in the 5 to 10 age bracket.

These districts include DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rajanpur.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Nasreen Sheikh, education campaign manager at the RSPN, says the survey identifies, poverty, lack of awareness regarding Article 25A, long distances of schools from homes, missing facilities at schools and a small number of schools dedicated for girls as factors preventing greater enrolment.

The caravan will start today (Monday) from Islamabad and head to Jhelum, Gujranwala before landing in Lahore. It will end in Bahawalpur on August 30.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2013.