Following the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to enrol out-of-school children into schools, the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) decided on Friday to classify the data of these children in three age groups. Sources privy to the development said that the directorate planned to divide around 30,000 out-of-school children in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) into three groups while collecting their statistics. “The first group would be comprised of children between the ages of five to eight, the second is planned between the ages of nine to 11 while the children of 12 to 15 years old would be included in the group,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity. The Federal Education & Professional Training Ministry in November last year, has announced that all out of school children would be enrolled 100 percent in order to make this dream of PM Imran Khan come to life. The announcement was made by Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood and he claimed that the task would be accomplished in two years in joint cooperation of the ministry with the FDE. Talking exclusively to Daily Times, FDE Director General (DG) Ali Ahmed Kharral said that the directorate has started collecting statistics regarding the actual number of children who are deprived of education. “We are engaged in consultation continuously with the Education Ministry and some private partners to make a comprehensive strategy in this regard,” he revealed. The DG said that the directorate is also in consultation with the National Commission for Human Development and some other organisations to get technical support. He also said that in order to boost enrolment rates, the School Management Committees in 13 union councils and 133 villages of Islamabad would need activation. These community-led committees will be given the responsibility of enrolling children in institutions at any cost. Recently, the Education Ministry through its subsidiary organisation the Academy of Educational Planning & Management (AEPM) had conducted a survey which stated that around 30,000 children in the capital were not receiving formal education. An official termed the figure as “very alarming” as, he recalled that it seems the previous government legislation for free education until the age of 15 under article 25-A in the Constitution also could not take any significant change. According to the AEPM survey, largest number of out of school children was pointed out in Nilore and Tarnol areas. On the other hand, insiders said the government was claiming for a 100 percent student enrolment in federal educational institutions, which seemed difficult. “Capital educational institutions are already facing shortage of space and to entertain such big numbers of children would not be easily possible,” said an administrative official in the FDE. Currently, there are a total of 423 educational institutions including 20 model colleges. Besides space deficit, the capital institutions also have shortage of teaching staff which is considered very integral to make the aforementioned strategies come to life. According to the documents, currently the FDE has sanctioned teaching strength of 7,603 including 2,503 males and 4,390 females, of all cadres. Of them, 1,044 positions are lying vacant. Published in Daily Times, January 26th 2019.