ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: The federal government has approved Rs.432.76 million to promote primary education for girls in NWFP.

The total cost of the project has been worked out to be Rs.432.76 million including World Food Programme (WFP) share of Rs 388 million.

According to official sources, the project is designed to increase enrolment, improve attendance and reduce drop out rates of girls in the primary schools in rural areas of districts of Swat, Kohistan, Dir Upper/Lower, Buner, Mansehra and Batagram of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where girls participant rate at primary level is very low.

The project envisages incentives in the form of vegetable oil to the household of primary schools girls and teachers. The World Food Programme will provide 3.7 kg edible oil per month per student and teacher for whole academic year (9 months) subject to attending the class at least 20 days in a month for students and 22 days for teacher. Around 96,000 girls of 5-9 years age group and 2,400 female teachers in 1,200 girls primary schools in six districts will benefit from the project. Training will also be imparted by WFP staff on the implementation strategy, storage, monitoring, reporting and recording of the stock/progress under the project.