22.8mln children not attending schools: President

• Addressing a seminar on out-of-school children in Pakistan.
• He said the country lagged far behind the other South Asian.
• President stressed equal opportunities for girls and women.

ISLAMABAD:  President Dr Arif Alvi termed as ‘alarming’ the country’s 22.8 million children not attending schools and said the challenge needed broad-based efforts, both at the government and individual levels.

The president said the serious situation meant half of the child population aged five to 16 was at risk of engaging in labour or begging.

Addressing a seminar on out-of-school children in Pakistan, the president said education was the right of every child guaranteed by the religion and the country’s constitution.

The seminar organized by the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS) and Pakistan Teachers Forum (PTF) discussed the issues and way forward to address the challenge of out-of-school children.

President Alvi pointed out that with only 68 percent of children in the category of primary education, the country lagged far behind the other South Asian nations including 100 percent in India, 99 percent in Sri Lanka and 98 percent in Bangladesh.

He stressed that it was the collective responsibility of the government, legislators, elite, civil society and the general public to take steps at their ends for the promotion of education.

In this regard, he called for setting priorities and taking effective decisions on the policies relating to matters of public interest.

Dr Alvi said incentives such as school feeding programmes for students and disbursement of cash to the parents on their children’s attendance could encourage the underprivileged population to get education.

The president stressed equal opportunities for girls and women to acquire education at par with their male counterparts.

Federal Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training Amir Ashraf Khawaja said the economy had a significant link with education and pointed out that lack of investment in education, health and agriculture resulted in a big lag in development for the country.

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Chairperson PTF Senator Fauzia Arshad, also an educationist, said the unfortunate challenge of 22.8 million out-of-school children that constituted 44 percent of the child population aged 5-16 years was not only an educational crisis but also a violation of human rights.