Programme for out-of-school children launched

LAHORE

The launch ceremony of a home school education programme was held at Lahore Press Club on Friday with Provincial Minister Rana Mashhood as the chief guest on the occasion.

The project is being implemented by Youth Commission for Human Rights in the districts of Muzaffargarh and Lahore with the financial assistance of USAID Small Grants Ambassador’s Fund Program.

Highlighting the project details, Youth Commission for Human Rights Chief Executive Officer Shazia Khan said the project activities had been designed to address the needs of out-of-school children in the underdeveloped areas.

The field survey conducted by the organisation in various areas of Muzaffargarh highlighted alarming facts regarding the status of out-of-school children. For instance, she said, the survey conducted in Basti Jhanger Maharais brought to light the fact that nearly 93.4 percent of the children living in the locality were not attending school. The situation in Lahore, she explained, was found to be slightly better, but still nearly 35 percent children in Sherakot and Shiblee Town were not going to school.

In response to the situation, the YCHR has been training teachers in the two districts on setting up and operating non-formal multi-grade schools.

As many as 20 such schools are being opened, 15 in Muzaffargarh and five in Lahore, where children between the age of 5 years and 14 years will be provided with an opportunity to get education. The teachers trained for the purpose will reach out to the parents of the out-of-school children and encourage them to enroll their children at these schools where they can get a chance to get education without any fee and at a time of their choice.

Provincial Minister Rana Mashhood congratulated the organisation on the initiative and said that Muzaffargarh was one of the least developed districts of Punjab, and extending a helping hand to assist the national efforts to increase literacy was commendable. He said the government would make efforts to facilitate such interventions and advised the organisation to look into the possibility of starting skill development trainings for the youth as it would help in income generation.

PTI MPAs Dr Noshin Hamid, Sadia Sohail Rana and Ms Shunila Ruth, and PML-N MPA  Ms Mary Gill, Zahid Islam from Sangat and Tariq Rafiq, EDO, Education, also spoke on the occasion.