Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) will release the 4th quarterly tranche of Benazir Kafaalat cash assistance from June 19 (Monday). The fourth quarterly tranche will be Rs 9000/- after a 25 percent increase, which was announced by the federal government early this year. In addition to Benazir Kafaalat cash assistance, Benazir Taleemi Wazaif stipend’s installment of January to March is also being disbursed to 6.7 million school-going students having at least 70% attendance in school who are registered under Benazir Taleemi Wazaif. This time, the disbursement will be made through 1559, especially arranged Camp sites established throughout the country. The arrangement of disbursement of Stipends through Campsites is to facilitate the beneficiaries and ensure transparency. Provision of payment through ATMs of HBL and Bank Alfalah would not be available, nor will any payment be made at the POS outside the campsite established by the BISP. About Rs. 81 billion will be disbursed among 9 million beneficiaries’ families of Benazir Kafaalat cash assistance, while another Rs 16 billion will be doled out to the 6.7 million beneficiaries of Taleemi Wazaif. It is important to note that at the primary level Rs 2000/- is paid to a girl student while Rs1500 is given to a boy student. At the secondary level, a girl student and a boy student are paid Rs 3000/- and Rs 2500/- respectively, while at the higher secondary level the stipend is Rs 4000/- and Rs 3500/- for the female and male students, respectively. Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety and Chairperson BISP Shazia Marri in her message, has called upon the registered beneficiaries to receive the full amount of Rs 9000 along with receipt of payment. She has directed the relevant officials to ensure transparency through strict monitoring and vigilance. She said that monitoring teams have to watch and supervise the cash disbursement process and ensure stern action against any complaint of leakage or deduction from beneficiaries’ precious cash assistance. She stressed that the beneficiaries should receive their entire amount of Rs 9000/- plus a stipend of Benazir Taleemi Wazaif according to the gender or education level of their child. She also emphasized to the beneficiaries to demand a receipt of their payment and to count and check their cash before leaving the POS desk. The minister reiterated that in case of any complaint, the beneficiaries should immediately report to BISP’s toll-free helpline 0800-26477 and inform the BISP officer deputed at the campsite to ensure transparent disbursement of the cash. She warned that the messages sent by BISP would come from 8171 only and that no message from any other number or code should be trusted, as such messages were faked and fraudulent. According to an official source, a total of 3.0 million children had been enrolled under this scheme during July- March FY2023. So far, Rs 63.3 billion have been disbursed since the inception of the Benazir Taleemi Wazaif initiative out of which Rs 23.4 billion have been disbursed from July to March, FY2023. In pursuance of the commitment to provide Universal Primary Education as a part of SDGs, the government launched a Co-Responsibility Cash Transfer initiative for providing additional cash per quarter to BISP beneficiary families in October 2012 for Primary Education. Since July 01, 2021, the scope of the programme has been expanded from Primary to Secondary and Higher Secondary level and is currently operational all over the country. The overall objective of this initiative is to encourage education through regular cash transfers to invest in human capital development. B-form/ CRC verification through the NADRA database is mandatory for the enrollment of the child in the programme. A beneficiary child must attend school or college for at least 70 percent of the school or college effective days within a quarter to receive cash transfers from the second quarter and onwards. The stipends rates for the students are Rs 1,500 per quarter per boy, Rs 2,000 for girl students at the primary level while Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 are being paid for boy and girl students respectively. While for the Higher Secondary level, Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,000 are being paid to the boy and girl students respectively. The girls are also given a one-time bonus of Rs 3,000 on graduation from primary education.