ISLAMABAD: Rana Tanveer Hussain, Federal Education and Professional Training Minister, declared Friday that Pakistan has the “most out-of-school children (OOSC)” globally.
The education minister responded to a National Assembly query about Pakistani youngsters not attending school by saying 23 million do.
The minister announced that the government aimed to eliminate all 70,000 out-of-school children in the Islamabad Capital Territory by June 30.
The minister claimed 70,000 Islamabad youngsters out of school and all efforts were made to enrol them by June 30.
Tanveer claimed the government created Schools on Wheels in Islamabad to educate rural youngsters. Buses turned into mobile schools with modern facilities, including bathrooms.
Moreover, He claimed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered the government to send mobile buses to flood-ravaged Balochistan and Sindh youngsters.
While, Minister stated that the World Bank (WB) had praised the government’s proposal and promised 30 buses for the good cause.
Afterward, He claimed the WB would implement such a system in Africa. He added the ministry would help if provincial governments provided buses.
Besides distance learning, the government had started tele schools. He noted that it has launched an accelerated learning plan with UK support to boost literacy.
He replied that the nine-month literacy rate was 0.8%.
UNICEF reported that 22.8 million children aged 5-16, 44% of the age group, are not in school.
Five million 5-9-year-olds are OOSC, and 11.4 million 10-14-year-olds are OOSC.
Sindh has 52% of the poorest children (58% girls) out of school, and Balochistan has 78% of girls.
10.7 million boys and 8.6 million girls attend primary school, while 3.6 million boys and 2.8 million girls attend lower secondary school.
