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40
percent dropout rate raises eyebrows in Senate
body
ISLAMABAD, July 30:
The Senate committee on
education on Monday expressed serious concern
over the staggering 40 per cent dropout rate at
primary level and asked the Ministry of Education
to make necessary arrangements to take the children
back to schools.
According to a press release,
the committee members who met here at the Parliament
House were for adopting innovative strategies
to control the declining trends in the education
sector at this particular level.
They also called for putting
the non-formal education sector in order to achieve
the desired results with regard to the promotion
and enhancement of literacy in the country.
Presiding over the meeting,
Senator Razina Alam Khan said it was the government’s
responsibility to work out modalities to curtail
such a high dropout rate and to make efforts for
bringing those kids back into the formal system
by providing them necessary training and education.
She said it was an era
of knowledge-based economies and the countries
failing in the field of education could not catch
up with the developed world.
Talking to Dawn, she said
the committee had also asked the education ministry
officials to conduct a comprehensive survey to
know the reasons behind this significant dropout
rate. It is a matter of grave concern that out
of those who are enrolled in schools, 40 per cent
leave before being promoted to class-V, she said.
On the occasion, Minister
of State for Education Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli informed
the committee members that 1,500 schools would
be opened under the Non Formal Basic Education
(NFBE) community schools project.
In this regard, she said,
there would be an office in each district for
the NFBE project to coordinate its activities,
adding that these offices would work in collaboration
with the district monitoring committees to eliminate
ghost schools.
During the meeting, a presentation
was also made by National Education Foundation
Managing Director Maj-Gen Sabih Qamaruz Zaman
on the implementation strategy of the NFBE schools
in the country.
He said with the passage
of time each successful NFBE institute would be
converted into formal school. In future basic
education community schools would only be opened
in rural and urban slums where formal and non-formal
schools are not available, Gen Sabih said.
The committee members also
stressed the need for ensuring judicious spending
of the money earmarked for the NFBE community
schools project. The government has allocated
Rs7 billion for the project which will be completed
during the next two years.
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