Day: February 22, 2023

Minister for Railways Saad Rafique says the political governments should be allowed to complete their terms.

Talking to media in Lahore today, he urged to end the political vendetta in country.

Saad Rafique said PTI Chief Imran Khan has lost his credibility in public due to his dual stance in all matters.

He said that everyone should be equal before the law.

Source: Radio Pakistan

Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Faisal Karim Kundi has said scholarships are being given to the children of 8.9 million beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Program.

Addressing an event organized by National Commission on the Rights of Child in Islamabad today, he said two thousand rupees are being given to the female child and fifteen hundred rupees to boy child.

Faisal Karim Kundi said that a nutrition program has also been started with the cooperation of World Food Program at a cost of fifteen billion rupees for the pregnant women and children below the age of two years.

The Special Assistant said a dynamic survey is soon being launched to register more deserving beneficiaries living below the poverty line.

He said we have also prepared an exit plan aimed at helping the beneficiaries of BISP stand on their own feet. He said under this scheme, scholarships, vocational training and loans will be provided to the BISP beneficiaries.

PPP Leader Farhatullah Babar appreciated the will demonstrated by National Commission on the Rights of Child for the protection and promotion of rights of children. He suggested that the National Commission on the Rights of Child Act needs to be revisited in order to make the commission more independent.

PML-N leader Mushahid Hussain Syed emphasized the need for a broad national consensus on the rights of children.

Chairperson of National Commission on the Rights of Child Afshan Tehseen gave a detailed briefing on the three-year performance of the commission. She said the commission handled three hundred and thirty-eight complaints relating to the children. She said the complaints were related to early childhood marriages, forced conversions, child labour and torture. She also alluded to the campaigns launched for the awareness of children’s rights.

Source: Radio Pakistan

President Dr. Arif Alvi has stressed the need of declaring national emergency to promote education for better and prosperous future of the country.

Addressing a seminar on “Out of School Children; Issues, Challenges and Way forward” in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said we have to seek out of the box solutions to move forward and correct our priorities towards right direction.

The President said the countries which wanted to develop, focused on empowerment of women and promotion of education.

Dr Arif Alvi emphasized the elected representatives to set their priorities and focus on education for betterment of the society. He also asked philanthropists to come forward for this noble cause.

He regretted that Pakistan is lagging behind in imparting quality education and only 68 percent of the children are enrolled till primary level in the schools.

The President said today, Pakistan is confronted with multiple challenges and there is a need for making collective efforts by all the stakeholders and every segment of the society to bring the country out of these challenges.

Speaking on the occasion, Senator Fawzia Arshad said as per the constitution of Pakistan, it is the responsibility of state to impart education to children in the age bracket of 5 to 16 years.

Referring to alarming number of out of school children, the Senator said it is our responsibility to eradicate this inequality in the society. She said 22.8 million children are out of school which is 44 percent of this age group.

In his remarks, Federal Secretary for Education and Professional Training Aamir Ashraf Khawaja stressed on the need of out of box solutions for the issue.

He said the Ministry for Education has introduced free meals in schools to attract to more children in schools. He said an “App” is also being developed to provide better education to school children.

Source: Radio Pakistan