'Girls' Right to Education Programme' launched

Unesco and the government of Pakistan on Thursday officially launched worth $7 million "Girls' Right to Education Programme in Pakistan" aimed at supporting better access, improved quality and safe learning environments for girls in the hardest-to-reach areas of the country. According to the programme, the Unesco will work with the government over the next three years to improve access to quality learning opportunities for primary girls in the hardest-to-reach areas of the country.
It will be implemented over the next nine districts representing all the provinces and areas of Pakistan. The aim is to get 50,000 more girls enrolled in primary schools, increase their retention and improve learning outcomes. It is funded under the Malala Funds-in-Trust agreement signed in 2014 by Irina Bokova, Director General of Unesco and Baligh-ur-Rehman, Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training.
Baligh-ur-Rehman said Girls' Right to Education Programme was a joint initiative of the government and Unesco, which was intended to promote girls' access and retention to education. He said despite of many challenges, "we are committed to improve the standards of education including the girl's primary education." Minister of State said there was a 10 percent gender gap of net enrolment rate between girls and boys in the country and the government had vowed to eliminate that gap while targeting 100 percent net enrollment rate in coming years.
"We envision standardising the education system in Pakistan in terms of curriculum, teaching, classroom environment and school facilities. Realising the growing need and demands of modern education system, the government is aimed at introducing ICT in all schools in the country," the minister added.
The programme implementation involves community mobilisation and advocacy; improvement in school physical and learning environment with focus areas of renovating WASH and boundary walls; mobilising and energising school management committees; supporting teachers to be more effective in multi grade teaching and improving girls' learning through activity based learning and strengthening the capacities of provincial/area and district education officials to plan and implement programs aimed at narrowing the gender gap.
In her video statement Irina Bokova, DG Unesco said that despite tremendous progress in access to education world-wide since 2000, there was still a long way to go. She said that approximately 31 million (55 percent) girls were out of primary schools world-wide including three million girls in Pakistan. She said the new sustainable development goals that were recently agreed fully recognise access to education as a basic human right which was essential for sustainable development. The inaugural session was followed by the panel discussion in which female representatives of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies and representative of civil society and academia shared their perspective on girls' education and highlighted the existing policies and programmes for improvement in girls' education. Maki Hayashikawa from Unesco Headquarters presented the global perspective on post-2015 sustainable development goals focusing on targets and indicators for SDG 4.