ISLAMABAD: The schoolgirls in Islamabad would be given poultry to care for in an initiative partly aimed at teaching them about the kitchen, officials said, raising the eyebrows of women’s activists in the deeply patriarchal country. The Punjab officials said the government in Pakistan’s wealthiest province would initially provide girls in 1,000 primary schools with four hens, one cock, and a cage. Punjab government’s livestock department head Naseem Sadiq, told AFP the aim was to promote poultry and educate about nutrition, citing World Bank figures showing Pakistan ranks among the top countries in the world for protein deficiency. He also said the programme would “train these small girls about kitchen waste” as they feed their charges leftover food from lunch. “We preferred girls’ schools for this project to boys because girls, mostly, have to deal with the kitchen and they are more responsible and caring than boys,” Sadiq said. Women’s rights activist Farzana Bari criticised the project this week for reinforcing stereotypes by telling girls their role is limited to the kitchen only. “It would be very good if the government focused on boys’ schools more to create responsibility and equality,” she said. “By starting such projects in boys’ schools they would also learn about what to do in a kitchen and helping women,” she added. The programme is due to begin next month, Sadiq said.