PESHAWAR, April 19: Four non-governmental organizations have demanded that the government should make primary education compulsory for children of school-going age, here on Monday.

A joint press conference was held here at Peshawar Press Club on Monday in connection with the global campaign for education by the four NGOs working for the rights of the child.

The representatives of Society of the Protection of Child Rights (Sparc), Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), Khwendo Kore and Human Resource and Management Development Centre (HRMDC) said that they have organised some activities in connection with Global Campaign for Education to create awareness among the parents and government representative about the need for education.

The NGOs have formed this coalition to coordinate global action week activities. The global action week was being observed in around 100 countries from April 19-25. Arshad Mehmood of Sparc said that the coalition would organise a lobby which would draw the attention of the government to " help ensure basic quality education for all children".

Mr Farman Ali of HRMDC said that out of 27 million school going children about 13 million were not enrolled in primary schools. During the global action week a campaign would be launched and post cards, posters leaflets and banners would be used to create awareness among the public and public representatives to ensure the quality compulsory education for the school-going children.