QUETTA, Nov 30 (APP): As many as 400 out-of-school children, Afghan refugees and children of the host community among them have been enrolled in 15 government-run schools at Pak Afghan border town of Chaman.
This was revealed during the provincial level advocacy and coordination meeting organized by the Tameer-e-Khalq Foundation (TKF) in collaboration with Save the Children, here at a local hotel on Wednesday.
Overall performance of the ongoing CONNECT Project in Chaman was reviewed during the meeting attended by TKF Balochistan Head, Haroon Dawood, Gender Specialist Saima Javed, Manager Education Save the Children Farman Shah, District Support Manager Asim Khan and District Education Officer Chaman Mehmood Khan.
Talking on the occasion, speakers said that child labor and out-of-school children in Pak-Afghan border town are some of the serious problems for which an awareness campaign was conducted.
As a result, the guardians of the children were convinced and 400 out-of-school children were enrolled in fifteen educational institutions.
According to the basic review survey, a total of 235 girls and as many as 165 boys were admitted. Among them, 163 Afghans were migrant children while as many as 237 were local.
The speakers said that the education department has been fully supporting the out-of-school children while non-government organizations are also playing their part.
In this connection, efforts are afoot for the capacity building of the teachers while teaching materials have also been provided to the educational institutes.
They noted that children are also been sensitized how to deal with harassment and negative social attitudes. Besides, an education information management system has been established to continuously review the situation.
“Comprehensive proposals have been formulated to discourage the practice of punishing children so as to remove the fear of school in children and restore their confidence,” they maintained.
In addition, one hundred special children have been identified in the project area under the referral mechanism; they will be referred to concerned institutions.
The speakers further vowed that the concerted strategy adopted for the admission of out-of-school children in the Pak-Afghan border town will continue with the same spirit.
