July 31, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 27, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 30: The Ministry of Education launched a campaign to enrol all out-of-school children here on Wednesday.

The launching ceremony was attended by head teachers of 410 federal and model schools and colleges.

The campaign is aimed at achieving the target of 100 per cent primary enrolment in two years, said programme coordinator Prof Rafique Tahir on the occasion.

He said the ratio of primary enrolment was not satisfactory which was obvious from the statistics showing six million children aged 5-7 out of school.

He said the drive aimed to enrol an estimated 5,590 children who, according to a survey conducted by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), were out-of-school within the federal capital. The drive will also be launched in all provinces by the provincial governments. Under the campaign, enrolment will be launched from the coming academic session next month and will continue till September 8, which is observed as International Literacy Day. Children enrolled under the drive will be provided free books and stationery in addition to transportation facility by the FDE, he added.

Secretary Education Jahangir Bashar urged the head teachers to start a door-to-door drive along with the staff concerned in their respective communities to identify the out-of-school children. He told the participants that from now onwards the performance of the institutions and the head teachers would be judged on the basis of the number of children enrolled and the number of drop-outs in addition to the performance in examination, which was already being practised.

To facilitate the process, he added, as many as five hundred new teachers would also be recruited.