ISLAMABAD: The chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Marvi Memon, has called upon banks to streamline the process of issuing ATM cards and follow an identical and simple procedure to help those benefiting from the programme.

The BISP has hired services of United Bank, Bank Alfalah, Summit Bank and Tameer Bank for issuing the ATM cards to the beneficiaries of the BISP, but the banks are following different and complicated procedures, creating problems for people on the BISP’s roll because most of them are illiterate.

Also read: Speedy achievement of BISP objectives outlined

Sources said the chairperson expressed concern over the design of Waseela-i-Taleem Programme and issued directives for adoption of a uniform procedure to distribute stipend among children enrolled under the programme.

The Waseela-i-Taleem (WT) Programme was launched in 32 districts of the country with the promise of enrolling `Out of School Children’ from beneficiary families, but the newly-appointed chairperson said that a number of flaws in the programme’s implementation process had put millions of rupees at risk.

She said that enrolment of Beneficiary Families into the WT was by choice. She said attendance of enrolled children in schools could not be improved until it’s linked to payment of Rs1,500 monthly grant to the beneficiaries.

She noted that the WT incentive did not match needs of people as poverty dimensions were different in different localities. Moreover, she said, the amount of stipend was not in accordance with requirements of the beneficiaries and it needed to be enhanced keeping in view the inflation.

Unfortunately the focus of the scheme, she said, was not on ‘Out of School Children’ as 90 per cent of the “enrolled” children were already studying in schools, she said.

The chairperson said that the WT scheme did not finance orphans if the mother beneficiary had died. It even did not support the children of victims who had been given financial support by the BISP under the Emergency Relief Fund, she said.

Ms Memon said that payments were being given to already enrolled children who did not need any further support and no steps had been taken to check the continuing drop-outs.

Children enrolled under the WT programme, she said, had no connection with secondary education and there was no future plan for these children after completing their primary education. She said support might be sought from provinces to improve the situation.

Published in Dawn March 9th , 2015

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