ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar has approved the Ehsaas Secondary Education Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme for deserving households to send their children to schools.

The first-of-its-kind initiative, which was discussed during a meeting held at the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division on Saturday, will come into effect in all districts in July.

There are 18.7 million children in the age group of six to 16 years who remain out of school in the country and the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to further accentuate the situation.

The government under its social welfare programme Ehsaas has prepared a strategy to provide children of underprivileged households conditional cash grant of Rs3,000 per quarter for the girl child and Rs2,500 for the boy child on the fulfilment of 70 per cent attendance in school. All payments will be biometrically made to mothers of children.

The new secondary education CCT has been structured along the lines of Ehsaas stipends policy that allocates higher amount for girls as compared to boys. This policy decision is an extension of Ehsaas primary education CCT, Waseela-i-Taleem Digital, expanding it to the secondary level.

The programme will be implemented in close coordination with provincial education departments to avoid double dipping and duplications.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2021