ISLAMABAD: As the Punjab government has made a law for free and compulsory education across the province, stakeholders, while welcoming this long due legislation towards improving literacy rate, have urged the provincial government to take practical measures to ensure the law was implemented without any delay and targets of sustainable development goals in education sector are achieved.
The provincial government last week had approved ‘The Punjab Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2022’ after a rigorous initiative of stakeholders, especially educationists, civil society organizations, teachers and parents led by AwazCDS-Pakistan to make free education compulsory across the province.
“The passage of this law is a great achievement on the part of both government and all stakeholders as it would contribute a lot towards popularizing free and compulsory secondary education across the province,” remarked AwazCDS Chief Executive Zia-ur-Rehman while reacting to the government’s major step towards promoting education.
Towards achieving the desired goals of this law, he said, the government needs to ensure quick and across the board implementation of this law by taking along all stakeholders through sustainable collaboration.
It is to be mentioned here that the Punjab Education Department has instructed all private schools in the province to provide free education to 10 percent poor and deserving students, which is appreciated by the stakeholders.
Zia-ur-Rehman, however, urged the government to ensure that all private schools implement this clause immediately and without any discrimination so that poor, but talented students, could get quality education at these institutions for better future.
He further urged immediate preparations of ‘Rules of Business’ for the said law. He also appreciated the role of Legislatures Core Group Members on Education, especially Mian Muhammad Shafee, Ayesha Iqbal, Aisha Nawaz, Kanwal Liaqat, Uswa Aftab, Shamim Aftab, Seemabia Tahir, and Rahila Khadim Hussian among many others for their regular efforts in that regard.
Giving her input on the subject, Program Manager AwazCDS Marium Amjad Khan welcomed the law and suggested the government to establish more and more schools in order to encourage students enrollment ratio.
She mentioned that accessibility, low budget, teachers’ improper training and people’s socio-economic conditions are affecting literacy rate in the province. However, she stressed the need for extensive efforts from both government and stakeholders to sensitize more and more people on education.
