KARACHI, Feb 19: The two-day workshop on "Addressing the gender disparity in primary and secondary education," concluded at a local hotel on Thursday. The moot was organized by the Sindh Education Foundation in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

Addressing the concluding session, the SEF Managing Director Prof Anita Ghulam Ali, stressed that without developing a linkage among all the relevant departments, no swift headway in ending gender disparity in education was possible. She was of the view that such a linkage was of vital importance, particularly between the Education and Health departments. Prof Anita urged that the community should also be involved in such projects.

"When we talk of empowerment, disparity is ignored. Women must empower themselves," she remarked. She was of the view that the awareness must be fostered among the women regarding gender issues, and they should also be provided with the necessary tools, besides an enabling environment to address these problems.

The Unesco Programme Specialist Hassan A Keynan, who distributed certificates among the participants of the moot, expressed the hope that the country would achieve its gender-related targets by 2005.

Ms Reem of SEF said that the workshop was aimed at addressing the issues related to the low enrolment of girls in schools by exploring the barriers to girls' education, and proposing strategies to help improve the situation.

She was of the view that there was an urgent need to assist more girls from rural areas and from ethnic minorities to complete primary and secondary education, in order to overcome rural-urban, ethnic and gender imbalances in the areas of literacy and education.

Ms Somaiya Ayoob of the SEF introduced the resource persons as well as the participants of the moot. The moot was attended by the executive district officers (Education) from various districts in the province, as well as the representatives of the NGOs working in the field of education. -APP/PPI