President Asif Ali Zardari Friday launched an education programme aiming at providing financial assistance to over 3 million children of the poor families of the country for enrolling them in primary schools in next four years.
‘Waseela-e-Taleem’ initiative – under the umbrella of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) – comes after a four-year slumber when the ongoing term of the PPP-led government is about to complete.
Addressing a special ceremony to launch this initiative at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president claimed that “government was according high priority to the promotion of education” as no country can make any progress without investing in its human capital.
He asserted that they firmly believe that ignorance and poverty go hand in hand, adding that poverty combined with ignorance fuels militancy and extremism. “We must fight against ignorance to fight poverty and militancy,” he said.
United Nations’ Special Envoy on Global Education Gordon Brown also attended the ceremony. He presented a petition with more than a million signatures in support of shot schoolgirl education campaigner Malala Yousafzai to the Pakistan government.
Former British prime minister Brown is visiting Pakistan to call for education for all children and to mark Malala Day - Saturday - a global ‘day of action’ in support of Malala and girls’ education. He said the international community was ready to support Pakistan in its efforts to tackle poverty and ensure all children could go to school.
“Malala and her family believe that there are many many more courageous and brave girls and families in your country who want to stand up for the right of every child, in particular girls, to have the education that they deserve,” he said.
Education in Pakistan is under attack from militants opposed to secular schooling but also suffers from chronic underfunding: the country spends less than 2.5 per cent of GNP on education, according to UN children’s agency UNICEF.
Some 32 million girls around the world are denied access to education, according to UN figures, more than five million of them in Pakistan.
The ‘Waseela-e-Taleem’ ceremony was also attended by the president and prime minister of AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan governor, federal ministers, parliamentarians, representative of the donor organisations and beneficiaries of BISP.
President Zardari in his address said that this education initiative lays solid foundation for brighter future of the poor children of the country. He reiterated country’s commitment to achieve the goal of Universal Primary Education and said that a result of a constitutional amendment it was now included in the fundamental rights.
The president called upon the provincial governments to extend all possible support to BISP as their support was critical in successful implementation of the programme. He urged the provincial governments to become partners in ensuring that each and every child was enrolled in the school and said that failure was not an option.
Appreciating the BISP, President Zardari also thanked the international community especially DFID, World Bank and international development partners including UK, China and Turkey for their support in promoting education in Pakistan.
He said that BISP was the flagship programme of the present government for poverty alleviation and women empowerment and expressed satisfaction that it was developing into a comprehensive social safety net. He said the BISP was not merely a cash grant programme but was enabling the poorest of the poor to stand on their own feet.
President Zardari, Special Envoy of UN Secretary General on Global Education Gordon Brown and BISP Chairperson Ms Farzana Raja also distributed School Enrolment Certificate among children from BISP beneficiary families belonging to various parts of the country.
Addressing the gathering Gordon Brown thanked the president for inviting him to Pakistan and also lauded his leadership and vision for the promotion of education.
He said that today’s launch of a special programme that targets children education was a measure of determination of the government. When he presented Malala solidarity petition to the president, he also signed it.
BISP Chairperson Farzana said that launch of ‘Waseela-e-Taleem’, was a landmark in the history of the country. She said that this was the first ever and the largest initiative for primary education, and it was one of the most significant components of BISP aiming at promoting education, empowerment and emancipation of children as per the MDGs of new millennium.
Earlier, the president also had a separate meeting with Gordon Brown and told him that Pakistan would greatly welcome UN and donors’ technical and financial support in Technical and Vocational Education, use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), and skill-based training of youth besides improving the curricula to enrich skills and competencies.
Brown briefed the president about the objectives of UN initiative “Education First” that aims at helping the member countries in promoting education and said that his mission in Pakistan was aiming at ensuring greater enrolment, provision of quality education, training of the teachers and promotion of education technology in Pakistan.
This meeting was followed by a briefing by the management of BISP on Waseela-e-Taleem initiative which was attended by Dr Ishrat Hussain, Shaukat Tareen, Ijaz Nabi and others.
Agencies add:
Also on Friday, tens of thousands of Britons called on their government to nominate Malala Yousafzai for the Nobel Peace Prize. A campaign led by a Pakistani-British woman urged Prime Minister David Cameron and other senior government officials to nominate Yousafzai for the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Malala doesn’t just represent one young woman, she speaks out for all those who are denied an education purely on the basis of their gender,” campaign leader Shahida Choudhary said in a statement issued by global petition platform Change.org.
More than 30,000 people have signed the petition in Britain as part of a global push by women’s rights advocates to nominate her for the prize. Similar campaigns have sprung up in Canada, France and Spain. Under the Nobel Committee’s rules, only prominent figures such as members of national assemblies and governments are able to make nominations.
One month on from the brutal attack, Malala on Friday thanked people around the world for their support on Friday in a message from hospital passed on by her father. “She wants me to tell everyone how grateful she is and is amazed that men, women and children from across the world are interested in her well-being,” said her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, on behalf of the 15-year-old.
“We deeply feel the heart-touching good wishes of the people across the world of all caste, colour and creed,” he said in a statement issued by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where Malala is being treated. Her father added: “I am awfully thankful to all the peace-loving well-wishers who strongly condemn the assassination attempt on Malala, who pray for her health and support the grand cause of peace, education, freedom of thought and freedom of expression.”
Million-name petition, Nobel calls for Malala
No comments:
Post a Comment