President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday said that the cooperation between public and private sectors was inevitable to educate around 26 million out-of-school children in the country. The president, in the meeting with a delegation of Read Foundation – a non-profit organization – led by Muhammad Shafiq Khan, said that the education and self-dependence of the orphan children were essential for an inclusive society. Similarly, he also called for a special focus on girls’ education to make the country achieve progress. The president lauded the services of the Read Foundation in the fields of education and welfare. He said that the educational institutions played a key role for the human resource development. In the briefing about the Foundation’s contributions, it was told that the organisation was running over 400 schools and colleges across the country. It was informed that the Read Foundation was striving for promotion of quality and result-oriented education as well as for enhancing the access to free or low-cost education. The Foundation was also taking measures for education and upbringing of the orphan children, it was told.