Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, Ms. Zeb Jaffar on Thursday said that Government was taking exemplary steps for the improvement of the education sector, due to which not only out-of-school children would be able to join the education network, but the drop-out rate would also decrease significantly. She said this while addressing a symposium organized on the topic of “Redefining Literacy in Pakistan” in connection with the World Literacy Day at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) yesterday. Zeb Jaffar said that the educational services of the AIOU and JICA were commendable, and it was great to hear that AIOU was providing free education to neglected areas and deprived classes, especially transgenders. She further said that the best education was the right of every child, and the government was giving a monthly stipend of 2 thousand rupees to every needy child. The symposium was organized by the AIOU’s Faculty of Education in collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and National Commission for Human Development (NCHD). Vice Chancellor, AIOU, Prof. Dr. Zia Ul- Qayyum said that the number of children who did not go to school or were dropped out in Pakistan was continuously increasing. He said that Allama Iqbal Open University with the support of JICA and different organizations was providing secondary and skill-based education to women in remote and backward areas of the country. He said JICA had always been very supportive in taking initiatives and with the collaboration of JICA they provided Middle Tech education to 560 students in Torghar, the most backward district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and now these students could enroll in matriculation for which the university would also provide financial support to them. Dr. Zia said that AIOU provided free matriculation education to the students of Balochistan, Merged Districts, and Gilgit-Baltistan. “We are also giving free education to jail inmates, transgenders, and disabled persons,” he said adding that the best solution to bring out-of-school children into the education network was the use of information technology. Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Kinsoshita Yasumitsu, Chief Representative – JICA Pakistan said, ‘Literacy is our gateway to life-long learning that prepares us to collaborate, achieve and celebrate our collective, social and economic recovery, and prosperity.” He said that JICA would continue to advocate for literacy until the enrollment of all out-of- school children as there were 22 million out of school children. Dean, Faculty of Education, Prof. Dr. Nasir Mehmood, Abid Gill, Sulaiman Shahzad, Javed Malik and Ayesha Khan discussed different topics in the panel discussion.