- National Plan of Action aims to enroll approximately 45,000 children into school in the next three years
As many as 44,985 out of school children will be enrolled in the primary classes in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) from the year 2013-2016, according to the targets of National Plan of Action (NPA) of education launched recently.
The National Plan of Action for Education was prepared in consultation with experts from Ministry of Education, Training and Standards in Higher Education, all the provinces, UNESCO and UNICEF.
According to the Plan of Action for ICT, a total number of 26,991 new students will be enrolled in primary classes in ICT existing under-utilised schools during 2013-16 at a cost of Rs 1,378 million.
Among them 50 percent will be enrolled in public formal schools and another 10 percent in private sector schools. ICT does not plan to expand enrollment in non-formal schools.
Corresponding to the new enrollments, a total of 750 new formal school teachers and around 20 supervisors will be recruited.
The innovative strategy for increasing access along with quality enhancement including awareness campaigns, community involvement and use of media is estimated to be Rs 1,378 million, with 69 percent for increasing access to education.
ICT does not plan to expand enrollment of out-of-school children through the provision of an additional room and teacher in formal public schools.
Around 17,994 children would be enrolled in new non formal schools, one-half will be enrolled in non-formal new schools while the remaining other half will be enrolled in new feeder schools at a cost of Rs 346 million.
Out of Rs 346 million, 73 percent would be spent on development and recurrent cost of implementation and 27 percent on quality enhancement measures and innovative strategies.
The human resource requirement for this step will entail recruitment of 600 non-formal and feeder school teachers and 15 supervisors. Of all primary enrollments, 15 percent of the students from disadvantaged groups will be provided incentives for access and retention in primary schools.
In ICT, 76,647 disadvantaged children will be targeted and provided incentives equivalent to Rs 3,000 per child per year at a cost of Rs 16.9 billion.
According to recent projections, the population of primary age group children from 5 to 9 years in ICT is likely to gradually rise to 156,977 by 2015/16, of which 82,273 will be boys and 74,704 will be girls.
The present education profile of ICT reflects a primary age group of 5 to 9 years population of 143,962 children out of which 75,416 are boys and 68,546 are girls.
Gross primary enrolment rate is 87 percent with 85 percent for boys and 90 percent for girls while net enrollment rate of 70 percent is much lower, with 68 percent for boys and 72 percent for girls.
Currently, the number of primary-age group out-of-school children (OOSC) is 43,236 comprising of 24,217 boys and 19,019 girls.
