Federal Education Ministry has claimed that it has enrolled over 7,000 out of school children in the first phase of enrollment drive.

The government kick-started the second phase of enrollment drive for out of school children in the federal capital.

Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood formally launched the second phase while expressing the commitment to bring the out of school children to school.

Under the enrolment drive, about 7,188 children have so far been enrolled. In the first phase, children between the ages of five and seven years were enrolled while in the second phase, children between the ages of eight and twelve years are being enrolled.

Mahmood said that reforms are also being introduced in seminaries in order to bring their students to the mainstream. He further said that out of school children are also facing health problems. The government will launch food programs in federal schools, said the minister adding that teaching out of school children is also a big challenge for teachers.

Bringing the out of school children is the top priority among four others of the government’s vision for education and training sector. The campaign was launched about seven months back by the minister along with Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) and NGOs like JICA, ARC and PAGE.

The FDE was able to identify about 11,000 out of school kids through door to door survey with special instructions of the minister. Out of 11,000, over 7,000 kids aging 5-7 years have been enrolled into schools with free uniform, books and stationary. The 2nd phase is about the students with age of 8-16 years who have never been to the schools.

An exclusive Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) has been designed to teach them for 3 years, which will be equivalent to 5th grade upon its completion. It is initially taking place in the 2nd half of the day with 44 government schools to act as centres.