PESHAWAR, Nov 25: Speakers at a convention on 'Child Protection' stressed here on Thursday the need for compulsory primary education of children.
They said it was the primary duty of both the government and society to save the children from exploitation and hard work that would affect their health and education, and have a negative impact on their personality.
The Human Resource Management and Development Centre (HRMDC) in connection with the Universal Children's Day organized the convention which was addressed by Population Welfare and Women Development Minister Kashif Azam and Social Welfare Department Director Fakhrul Islam.
In his address, Mr Kashif Azam highlighted the steps being taken by the government for the welfare of women and children. He said the MMA government provided for the first time free books to the primary students besides announcing free primary education.
The minister said due to the free primary education policy of the government 29 per cent increase had been registered in the enrolment of the students, which meant 500,000 boys and girls had started going to schools.
He said the government was concentrating on the policy of compulsory primary education and hoped that it would succeed. Appreciating the role of the HRMDC in education field, he assured that the government would provide all possible help to the organization.
HRMDC Director Ms Bushra Gohar called for collective efforts for the elimination of ignorance from society. She said when a child got education then he/she could get his/her all basic rights.
She said the Mashal Education project had been started with only five children but at present the number of Mashal schools had reached to 14 in the province. Ms Gohar said studying for only two hours in Mashal schools, students of these schools could compete with the students who were studying in formal schools on regular basis.
She asked the government to allow them to use government school buildings only for two hours to educate those children who were unable to get admission in government schools. The street children could be turned into good citizens by providing help, she said.
According to her, these children also needed to be given education so that they could grow as educated people and serve the country besides earning livelihood for themselves and their families.
According to the Constitution, such children needed to be imparted education and skills at the state expenses, she said, calling upon the philanthropists and well-off people to come forward to help assist in educating these children. Ms Gohar urged the government to remove the hurdles in educating the children.
