Daily Times

Alight Pakistan and Literacy & Non-Formal Basic Education Department (L&NFBED), Govt of the Punjab, have agreed to collaborate for devising and implementing multi-pronged strategies to improve literacy rate in the province where over nine million children are out-of-school.

The agreement was signed by Secretary L&NFBED Sumaira Samad, and, Deputy Chief of Party Alight Pakistan Kamran Iftikhar in the presence of Minister for Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education Department Raja Rashid Hafeez, Country Representative Alight Pakistan Dr. Tariq Cheema, and, Additional Secretary Literacy Department Bashir Zahid Goraya on Wednesday.

“With the landmark Punjab Literacy Policy in place, now we are building strategic partnerships in multiple areas to expand the network and enhance the impact of the department,” said Raja Rashid Hafeez.

On this occasion, Dr. Tariq Cheema reiterated that our priority is to enroll more out-of-school children while ensuring the already enrolled children in non-formal schools to help them overcome educational losses due to discontinuity in their learning.

According to the arrangement duly approved by the Standing Committee of Cabinet on Legislative Business, model non-formal shelter schools will be established at the pre-identified locations. Besides, educational materials, imparting of teachers training and missing facilities would also be provided for literacy centres across the province. Piloting of innovative models in non-formal education to address challenges of access and quality are also the part of the mutual arrangement and proposed activities.

Representatives of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Bunyad Literacy Community Council (BLCC) were also present on this occasion.