ISLAMABAD: Highlighting the dismal state of education in the country, a documentary, Taleem Hamara Mustaqbil, launched on Monday urged the government to undertake measures to facilitate students in getting education.

The Children Global Network Pakistan in collaboration with Plan International and other partners launched the documentary at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU). The film depicts their work in two districts as well as the overall standard of education and missing facilities in the public sector schools.

The documentary claimed that there were over 24 million out-of-school children, and called upon the stakeholders, including the provincial and federal governments, to play their role in bringing all the out-of-school children to classrooms. It also highlighted the retention and alarming dropout rates for girl students.

A report, ‘Bleak to brightness’ was also launched by the organisations. It concentrated on the education of teenage girls and included information on their work in building skills for life programmes.

The report included stories of some of the girls and women whose lives had been changed because they received education.

Bhairawan Mai, 23, who lives in the Shah Wala village in the Muzaffargarh district, was among such women. She is mother of five and was married at the age of 13 to an individual with special needs. She recently passed her matriculation examinations and is now determined to get a college education.

“This is one of the most successful programmes which helped a large number of students to get education. But now, this pilot project is going to be closed. The government should adopt such successful programmes in the interest of the country,” said Mehnaz Akbar Aziz, the president of Parwaan E-9, the national centre of excellence for ECED.

Representatives from various NGOs, including Imran Yousuf Shami, Sabir Baig, Ahsan Shoukat, AIOU’s Rehana Zaman, and others highlighted the successes of the programme which benefited a number of girl students in the targeted districts of Thatta and Muzaffargarh.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2016