Enrolling out of school children top priority: NCHD

Islamabad : The National Commission of Human Development (NCHD) is working on top priority basis to enrol out of school children (OOSC) and work on skill development for the empowerment of neglected society, especially women.

This was observed by chairperson NCHD Razina Alam Khan while briefing to Mr. Shafqat Mahmood, Federal Minister for Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, here on Wednesday.

While talking about NCHD she said that, NCHD has been contributing significantly towards 22.8 million Out of School Children. NCHD annually conducts a massive enrolment campaign in 124 districts of Pakistan, visiting remote areas at door steps to access all OOSC, she added. There are 5,949 feeder schools across the country including ICT, AJK and GB where 335,164 children of age 5 to 16 are acquiring education in the remote areas, she added.

NCHD has also pioneered 100 Madrassa schools in FATA, ICT, AJK and GB, she added.

"Primary education is the most important step in a child educational career. It is a crucial stage in child’s formative development and will shape the child into a learner, thinker and social being. The organization has constituted an Advisory Council on literacy and Islamabad Forum on non-formal education, which brings all stakeholders on a single platform to work for this noble cause," she maintained.

Talking about adult literacy program she said that NCHD being a lead agency in Adult Literacy had made 3.96 million people literate since inception and had won International Reading Award 2006 from UNESCO on Literacy. In NCHD’s previous literacy phase National Commission of Human Development introduced Functional Literacy Program with a purpose to make them literate along with useful citizens by delivering literacy and vocational and technical skills, she informed.

Through this program 150,000 adults especially women have been benefited and local skills in the rural areas was imparted to them in short span of time, she further informed.

A detailed analysis of Out-of-School Children is important for complementing the on-going work in all provinces and areas to scale up evidence based education activities to ensure that all children have access to quality education, she claimed.

The National Training Institute of National Commission of Human Development is established to ensure quality education by conducting research studies, capacitating staff in Literacy and Non-Formal Education (NFE) and developing need based teaching learning resource packages for NFE and Literacy programs, she said.

The NTI under Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training has prepared National Plan of Action (2018-2025) that will help policy-makers and education experts to better address challenges and bottlenecks in the education system, she said. "Our focus is to make nation 90% literate and achieve 100% enrolment by 2025," she added.