PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra on Friday launched a mass enrolment drive in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) to bring 400,000 out-of-school children to school.

Under the plan, 150,000 children from four to nine years of age would be enrolled in the government schools by the end of May. The drive would continue for three years to enroll the targeted children.

The launching ceremony was held at the Governor House here, which was attended by students and officials of the directorate of education, Fata, according to a statement.

400,000 children to be enrolled in Fata schools in three years

Secretary social sector, Fata, Syed Wiqarul Hassan informed the meeting that results obtained through recently conducted centralised examination proved that standard of education was very low in Fata. He said dropout rate at primary level was 73 per cent and 41 per cent at the secondary school level.

He said out of 22,987 students who appeared in centralised exam only 25 students acquired A-plus grade. He said development had been aligned with enrolment in tribal area while 100 per cent survey of schools was being conducted with the support of army.

Speaking on the occasion, Governor Jhagra said education was given the topmost priority and the government had already announced education emergency in Fata. To make Pakistan developed and sovereign state we have to educate every child, he stressed.

He urged people to play role to ensure 100 per cent primary enrolment in Fata schools. He said education was prerequisite for development.

He said books and other allied facilities would be provided to the students without delay. He said 1,765 vacancies of science teachers had been announced and appointments would be made on merit.

Governor Jhagra said during the enrollment drive there would be a competition at the agency level and prizes would be awarded to the best performers. On the occasion, the governor distributed admission forms among the children.

Similarly, provincial Minister for Elementary & Secondary Education Mohammad Atif Khan inaugurated the school enrolment campaign, 2016, for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa here on Friday, according to a statement.

Speaking at a ceremony on the occasion, he said huge dropout rate of children from schools was a great challenge for the government. He said the PTI-led provincial government was following a meaningful education policy which was yielding positive results.

The education minister said the government had achieved the target of enrolling 700,000 children in schools, last year, and target for the current year was 800,000. He said a household survey would be conducted to ensure each and every child was enrolled. He added that the government schools would be brought at a par with the best educational institutions of the country.

He appealed to the media to also highlight the good steps of the government side by side guiding and identifying its bottlenecks.

Meanwhile in Lakki Marwat, District Nazim Ishfaq Ahmad Khan Meenakhel and Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Bakhtiar Khan also inaugurated the enrolment drive by filling the admission forms of several children at a ceremony on Friday.

The education department had organised the ceremony with support of Boy Scout Association at Government Shaheed Mohammad Ghassan Khan Centennial Model High School in Lakki city.

The district nazim and deputy commissioner also gave away free textbooks to the newly admitted children and called upon the parents to enroll their children in schools. They said education was the basic right of children and they should not be deprived of it.

The deputy commissioner asked the education department authorities to make sincere efforts to ensure enrolment of all out of school children. “The district administration besides providing full support in this regard will also ensure effective monitoring of enrolment drive,” he said.

Later, an awareness walk was held in Lakki city to sensitise community to the importance of enrolment campaign. The participants carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans highlighting the importance of education.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2016