Category: Education

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)

Kinnaird College’s center for Learning and Cultural Development (KCLCD) organized the Project exhibition in which students received appreciation for the brilliant display of their innovative interior design creations. Based on the latest ideas of home and office décor, all projects reflected the immense talent of young designers. The show was the final part of one year interior design course which taught the students the practical skills and exposure required for joining the field of Interior designing.

Principal KC Prof. Dr. Rukhsana David graced the project show as a chief guest. She praised the young designers for their impressive projects, which presented a beautiful blend of tradition with modernism. The designers added the cultural elements such as customized cushions, tables, pottery designs and thematic paintings with other décor ingredients.

Director KCLCD Ms. Maha Jamil acknowledged the hard work of young designers for making the project show a memorable event. She shared that KCLCD is putting great focus in the development of skilled based youth, and for this very cause various skilled based short courses are being offered to young students which enables them to become professionals who can impact the market by instilling creative, critical and ethical qualities in the practice.

Technical and Professional Education is very necessary for the promotion of positive development of the society and Kinnaird College is playing its active role in this mission said by Rizwan Anwar Executive Director KCLCD. He said the basic objective of the project show was to display the creative and Innovative designs which are not only deeply rooted in the cultural and social sensibilities of our society but also present socially responsible designs solutions. Such shows also pay a path for the new talented designers , he concluded.

 

Course Instructor Miss Hina Hayee was praised by The Chief Guest and Executive Director where as all participating Students including Mariam Maqbool, Rafia Sajjad, Neha Tahir, Qandeel, Nageen Ashraf, Sara Ashraf, Noureen Rohail, Aimen Waajid, Faiza Farooq, Maria Sultana, Juwariyah Irfan, Irum Naz, Hina Ahmad, Izza Usman, Sofia Awais,Hiba Arif, Amina Muazzam were encouraged for their Professional Exhibits , Great Design Ideas and Efforts.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir)

The Non-profit Green Crescent Trust (GCT) has launched its 160th charitable school in Sindh as a step forward to achieving its goal of enrolling 100,000 out-of-school children in the province by the year 2025. The new charitable school has been opened in an underprivileged part of the Azizbad area in Karachi. 

The new GCT school in Azizabad in the next few years will enroll a total of 720 students from underprivileged families for education up to class 8th. Another GCT school is functional nearby and has been functional for past many years. The location of the two schools shows that the issue of out-of-school children in the midst of Karachi is as grave as in a faraway rural area in Sindh.

A large number of concerned philanthropists, dignitaries from various walks of life, and donors of the GCT attended the launching ceremony. Speaking at the launching ceremony, the GCT CEO, Zahid Saeed, thanked the concerned donors and philanthropists for continuously supporting the drive of this charity to educate underprivileged students in Sindh. He said the generous and uninterrupted support this charity had been receiving from its donors would enable it to achieve the target of increasing the number of its charitable schools in Sindh to 250 by 2025 for enrolling a total of 100,000 children from needy families.

He said the concerned donors and philanthropists had to come forward and generously support genuine charitable drives in the education sector as they did so during the coronavirus pandemic and as in the recent flood calamity, which had massively damaged the school infrastructure in Sindh. Zahid Saeed informed the audience that the GCT has employed over 1400 qualified teachers to educate around 29,000 students from underprivileged areas of Sindh. 2,000 orphan children are fully supported by GCT.

He praised the noble services of GCT patron-in-Chief, Sardar Muhammad Yasin Malik, who had been exceptionally supporting genuine charitable causes in the society including the campaign to enroll out-of-school children in the country.

Zahid Saeed mentioned that the GCT is fully open to the idea of launching partnerships with like-minded charities to further its goal of educating every child in the province. Zahid Saeed told the audience that the GCT partnered with the Sindh government also in furthering its drive to educate underprivileged children. For this purpose, GCT has been running 17 schools in partnership with the Sindh Education Foundation, Government of Sindh.

Formal Ribbon Cutting Ceremony by Master Aliyan Khan, prep-II, student along with CEO, GCT, Zahid Saeed and donors at the occasion of inauguration ceremony of Green Crescent Trust’s 160^th GCT Hilal School in Azizabad, Karachi.

CEO, GCT, Zahid Saeed and donors visiting nursery class, at the occasion of inauguration ceremony of Green Crescent Trust’s 160^th GCT Hilal School in Azizabad, Karachi.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) As part of the initiative to make students in Pakistan potentially capable for joining higher education in world institutions of excellence, the two educational groups Pearson Education Limited and Roots International Schools & Colleges have joined hands to offer Pearson Edexcel complete suits of qualifications to students from early years till A level at Roots International schools and college.

This collaboration was agreed upon after the two sides signed an agreement during a ceremony held in Lahore on Tuesday.

The agreement was signed by Ms. Kathryn Booth, Director of Pearson Schools Qualifications, Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan/Turkey, and Ms. Irum Khan, General Manager Academics at Roots International Schools & Colleges.

Senior officials of both the organizations, academicians and guest students were also present on the occasion.

This collaboration will allow Pearson and the Roots International to continue collaborating for Pearson Edexcel exams, supporting resources and professional development courses at Roots int, whose headquarters is located at Islamabad.

Both sides intend to collaborate on a project to introduce Early Years programs for their 2000 students and iPrimary in their all branches. In the second phase this collaboration will extend to international GCSE and A level in the main campuses
This collaboration is to allow Roots Int to evaluate the effectiveness of Pearson’s academic assessments, exam preparations, training provision, technology, centre administration and support on an annual basis

Pearson will provide Roots International unmatched data analysis and exam support tools, PD teachers training and resources support.

On the other hand, the Roots International will offer to students no competing exams of Pearson Edexcel qualifications, support Pearson’s qualifications monitoring process, professional development courses, introduce the program’s at their all campuses and branches.

Ms. Kathryn Booth appreciated the leadership of Roots Schools for pioneering the Early Years curriculum. She highlighted the critical role Pearson’s Early Years curriculum plays in giving students the best possible foundation in their international curriculum journey.

In her remarks on the occasion, Ms. Irum Khan said that we have always strived to go the extra mile to bring better academic opportunities for our students. I congratulate my team at Roots International and everyone at Pearson Education for this partnership and I am confident that our students will be able to get the Pearson Edexcel qualifications to excel in international education in renowned educational institutions.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, a question-answer session was also held where the audience raised a number of questions regarding this collaboration and future prospects as well.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)  As part of the initiative to make students in Pakistan potentially capable for joining higher education world institutions of excellence, the two educational giants Pearson Education Limited and Cornerstone School & College Global Campus, Lahore, (CSCG) have joined hands to offer Pearson Edexcel complete suits of qualifications to students from early years till A level at the CSCG campus.

This collaboration was agreed upon after the two sides signed an agreement during a ceremony held in Lahore on Monday.

The agreement was signed by Ms. Kathryn Booth, Director of Pearson Schools Qualifications, Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan & Turkey, and Ms. Wajeeha Raoof, Director Cornerstone Schools.

Senior officials of both the organizations, academicians and guest students were also present on the occasion.

As per details, the scope of this collaboration will allow Pearson and the Cornerstone Schools to continue collaborating for Pearson Edexcel exams, supporting resources and professional development courses at the Global Campus, Lahore

The agreement envisages that Pearson will provide at the CSCG campus unmatched data analysis and exam support tools, PD teachers training and resources support.

On the other hand, the CSCG campus will offer to students all suits of Pearson qualifications including Early Years, Int. GCSE and A level exams, support Pearson’s qualifications monitoring process, introduce the programs at their all campuses and branches.

In her remarks on the occasion, Wajeeha Raoof expressed her full confidence in the academic programs development capacities of the Pearson and said that our students will be able to get the Pearson Edexcel qualifications to potentially enter the arena of international education in renowned educational institutions.

Kathryn Booth appreciated the leadership of Cornerstone Schools for their ongoing collaboration with Pearson through their valued partnership of seven years. She highlighted the significance of Pearson Edexcel qualifications saying the students at the Cornerstone global campus will get a rich opportunity to equip themselves with critical skills to enable them to succeed in future education and the world of work. 

At the conclusion of the ceremony, a question-answer session was also held where the audience raised a number of questions regarding this collaboration and future prospects as well.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Mr. Jameel Ahmad showed optimism that academia would help improve financial literacy to not only students but also to wider sections of society through innovative means. He pointed out that this is an area where the regulators and academia can potentially partner and bridge the gap by working towards a common goal of inclusive growth. He was delivering his keynote address as the Chief Guest at the School of Business Studies (SBS), Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi at the inauguration of the Finance Lab.

It is to be noted that SBS in collaboration with Alpha Capital Securities (Pvt) Ltd. has setup a Finance Lab at the Main Campus of IBA in line with its mission and as per Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation standards of providing quality education by offering innovative and technology-focused action learning opportunities. The IBA was represented by Executive Director, Dr. S Akbar Zaidi; Dean, School of Business Studies (SBS), Dr. Abdullah Z. Sheikh; Registrar, Dr. Asad Ilyas; Chairperson, Department of Finance, SBS, Dr. Sana Tauseef; and Assistant Professor and Head of Finance Lab, Dr. Mohsin Sadaqat. Industry Partner and CEO, Alpha Capital Securities, Mr. Azfer Naseem, represented his respective organization. A large number of students and faculty members attended the event.

Governor SBP congratulated the management of IBA, Karachi, on this achievement and hoped the Lab would bridge the gap between industry and academia, and between theory and practice in the area of finance by providing students an opportunity to immerse themselves into real-world problems. He stressed the need for establishing and strengthening a formal collaboration mechanism between academia and industry, for designing courses and setting a research agenda, which serves the objectives of both businesses and academia. He suggested that trade organizations should play an instrumental role in providing a consultative platform as well as arranging funds to finance academic research, given their ability to identify key areas of research, and pool-in required resources.

The Governor SBP said that the Finance Lab should consider collaborating with related disciplines to conduct studies on business processes, market sizing and value chain assessments of various products from the perspective of growth and innovation. The Governor, SBP also suggested collaborating with credit bureaus to test and to create credit scoring models, especially those based on alternate data or otherwise aimed at the segment of individuals and businesses that have no collateral and little or no credit history. He said that the Finance Lab should also focus on increasing the awareness of individual savers across the country to understand the risks and returns associated with different avenues and increasing retail investments in government debt papers and corporate bonds.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Executive Director, IBA Karachi, Dr. Zaidi said the use of technology has revolutionized the conventional financial education. He said the Finance Lab will play an instrumental role in inculcating financial literacy among the students, which is an integral component of the academic curriculum.

Dr. Sheikh stated that the Finance Lab bridges the gap between theory and practice. He further added that the Finance Lab is useful for instructors to ensure active learning, demonstrating how theoretical knowledge is related to the real-world phenomenon and explaining the complex financial concepts through real world data. It also provides an opportunity for students to understand how classroom learning is applied in the industry, enhance data analysis skills, and deepens their understanding of financial knowledge.

Dr. Ilyas briefed the audience about the Lab and said that the “IBA Finance Lab is a platform through which we can bridge the gap of fintech development between Pakistan and our neighbors. We need to realize our laggard status and commit to removing this distance. Without financial innovation Pakistan will never overcome its problems. This is the starting point and cuts through all other developments. Additionally, blockchain is a reality and a matter of time. It will disrupt every single industry and we need to be open to it rather than our reflexive resistance which comes with every new global innovation”.

Dr. Sadaqat said that “Competency is what the industry desires. Finance Lab provides state of the art learning opportunities to students to enhance the competency level through the application of finance knowledge in the real-world settings”.

Shedding light on the collaboration, Mr. Naseem said that Finance Lab is a wonderful initiative to bridge the gap between academia and industry and Alpha Capital is excited to partner with IBA in this initiative. It provides an opportunity for the students to apply the tools and concepts they learn in their curriculum to real life business problems”.

Dr. Tauseef stated that the Finance Lab will provide the advantage of real-world learning experience to our business students. Analyzing critical financial data and undergoing financial simulations, in addition to the strong theoretical knowledge, will make our students more competitive in the job market.

To enhance students’ exposure, the Finance Lab plans to organize student competitions namely IBA-SBS Equity Research Challenge and IBA-SBS Trading Challenge. The theme of this challenge would be to select a listed company and give buy/sell recommendation for its stock. Students would be required to build a complete financial model and write an equity research report to be evaluated by industry experts. The winning team will receive a cash award of PKR 50,000 sponsored by Alpha Capital Securities and the runner ups will receive PKR 10,000 from IBA-SBS Finance Department. In IBA-SBS Trading Challenge, students will use virtual currency of PKR 1,000,000 for trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), their performance will be evaluated by a panel of experts.

The event culminated with a ribbon cutting ceremony and the official inauguration of the Finance Lab.

• Joseph Owolabi elected ACCA president, first-ever from Africa to lead world’s leading professional accountancy body.
• Pakistan’s Ayla Majid also makes history for being appointed vice president, first South Asian to hold this position in a 118-year history of ACCA.

Joseph was confirmed in his new role at the annual council meeting after ACCA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 10 November 2022. Ronnie Patton, formerly senior lecturer at Ulster University, Northern Ireland, was appointed deputy president and Ayla Majid from Pakistan, founder and CEO of Planetive – a clean energy and sustainability advisory practice – became vice president.

Ayla joined ACCA in 2006 and has been serving on ACCA’s global council since 2014. She is the first person from Pakistan and South Asia to be elected the global vice president in a 118-year history of ACCA. 

Ayla is an international speaker and is a strong advocate of sustainability and energy transition; takes part in contributing to important themes: Digital Transformation, Climate Finance, Future of Work, Future of Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure. She sits on the Boards of various public and private entities in Pakistan in the areas of energy, pharmaceutical and not for profit sectors. In her various roles she focuses and advises on the adoption of the SDGs across different industries. Ayla is Eisenhower Fellow, and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. She sits on the Global Future Council of Energy Transition of the World Economic Forum.

‘Being a finance professional has equipped me with the tools and connected me with people who are working towards creating action-oriented solutions for a sustainable world,’ she said.

For Ayla promoting the role of women in governance is something she is very passionate about. She said: ‘It is the need of today’s forward-looking organisation.’ Ayla is a champion of board diversity and actively engages in promoting women on boards. She was the first female to sit on the board of any stock exchange in Pakistan. Thanks to pioneers like her, the influence and impact of women is changing the face of Pakistan.

Ayla is also proud that ACCA plays a major role in offering young Pakistanis a promising career path full of growth and opportunities while creating a positive global impact. ‘ACCA is a wonderful qualification, with high quality standards, up to speed with addressing global needs and provides flexibility, and therefore fits really well with the requirements of a diverse audience. It’s particularly a very attractive career choice for women in all parts of the world including developing countries,’ she said.

The newly elected ACCA president, Joseph Owolabi, grew up and studied in Nigeria, has lived and worked in Africa, North America and the UK, and now is an adoptive Australian. He will bring his knowledge of being a global citizen to his time as ACCA president and will draw on his experience of finding a home and a family with ACCA wherever he has lived and worked.

He became an ACCA member in 2011 and has served on ACCA’s International Assembly 2014-2015 and has been a Global Council member since 2015.

Joseph said: ‘If you had told me as a child growing up that I would one day be the first African leading the largest, truly global accounting body, I would not have believed you. ACCA is an inclusive open and global community for members, future members and partners. Wherever in the world I have found myself, ACCA has given me a home and a family.

‘I am passionate about connecting our community and inspiring the accountants of tomorrow. Great things happen when we collaborate across jurisdictions and national divides.

‘The challenges of today and the complexities of tomorrow will demand continuous learning, courage, sound judgment and a resolve to stay ahead of the curve. The accountancy profession has a key role to play in creating a better world.’

Joseph brings a wealth of experience to the role. He is founder of Rubicola which works in Australia, Africa and North America advising clients on risk, non-financial reporting and sustainable business strategies. His previous experience includes roles at Deloitte, EY and PwC.

 

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir) Beaconhouse, the country’s largest network of private educational institutions, has successfully concluded the 15th edition of its flagship ‘School of Tomorrow’ (SOT) conferences, themed ‘Guardians of the Future’.

The three-day conference hosted multiple insightful discussions with over 150 global and local thought leaders in education, healthcare, athletics, social and environmental development. Educationists, senior advisors, diplomats, policymakers, and experts from various fields came together to conclude this three-day event on a high note.

The opening session of the conference ‘Setting Directions for the World of Tomorrow’ explored topics and actions required to make this world a better place for future generations. Moderated by Kasim Kasuri, CEO of Beaconhouse Group, the panel included Cynthia Guyer, Dr John Siraj Blachford, Rashid Rana, and Dr Faisal Khan.

Mr Sean Covey, President of FranklinCovey Education and author of the acclaimed book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens’, was interviewed by a group of students about the timeless habits that can help teenagers improve their self-image, build friendships, resist peer pressure, and achieve their goals. Furthermore, the discussion provided guidance for the next generation to not only realise their potential but also become effective leaders of tomorrow.

More than 40 sessions were held over three days that focused on building communities that value the rights of children and in doing so promote globally-minded, critical thinkers who will not only be future leaders but also contribute to making the world a peaceful place for everyone.

A prominent panel discussion titled, ‘Setting the Stage for Tomorrow’s School’, addressed the changing role of education and the nature of schools over the next 30 years and beyond. A clear consensus pointed towards a rapidly globalising economy for which a multi-skilled workforce is required – one that can learn and adapt, keep pace with, and anticipate progress in every field.

One of the sessions moderated by TV anchor Sidra Iqbal revolved around how economic, climate, and energy crises have laid gross inequalities across the globe in terms of resource and income distribution. In addition, the link between climate change, global degradation of the natural world, and the outbreak of new viral illnesses have been highlighted.

Speaking about the conference, Kasim Kasuri, Event Chair and CEO of Beaconhouse, said, “We are overwhelmed with the discussions and thought-provoking conversations that have taken place not only during but after the sessions amongst participants, delegates and speakers. These outcomes will undoubtedly inform the direction our schools and help our students become stronger and better prepared guardians of the  future.”

The 15th SOT conference included prominent leaders including Yousaf Kerai, Dr. Ger Graus, Dr. Sara Baker, Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Vaneeza Ahmed, Dr. Abdul Hameed, Wajahat Malik, Hira Yousafzai, Sanne Kanis and many more.

The conference also featured two unique exhibits including Classrooms of Tomorrow, an interactive space on the future of learning curated by Google and Beaconhouse EdTech, and Co-exist/Co-exit: the future was today – an immersive art experience curated by Rashid Rana and Risham Syed and presented by the School of Visual Arts & Design, Beaconhouse National University.

Continuing its association with SOT, United Bank Limited (UBL) is the lead sponsor for SOT XV for the third year in a row. Being a socially conscientious corporate citizen, UBL’s ideology revolves around having an affirmative and lasting impact on the communities it operates in. Therefore, this partnership is a testament to UBL’s constant support towards quality education and initiatives driven to create a more balanced and inclusive educational ecosystem in the country.

Other key sponsors include My BackPack, Emkay Books and Paramount Books.

The Educators Partners Up With Tech Valley To Adopt Google For Education Tools To Enhance Teaching And Learning Experiences.

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir) The Educators, a network of pre-schools, primary and secondary schools across Pakistan, and a project of Beaconhouse Group, has joined hands with Google for Education’s partner in Pakistan, Tech Valley, to digitize their teaching and learning practices using Google for Education tools. An MoU signing was held in the presence of the global Google for Education team including the Director of JAPAC, Google for Education.

Colin Marson, Director of Google for Education, JAPAC mentioned at the event, “We have great partners worldwide that are working to enhance the global education system with the help of technology and standardizing the curriculum.”

Established in 2002, The Educators now has 900+ campuses & is the market leader in Pakistan’s educational landscape with a presence in over 225+ cities and a student strength exceeding 200,000+. This makes The Educators’ outreach the largest compared to any other private school in the world.

Tech Valley being a strong advocate of leveraging technology in the education sector of Pakistan will help The Educators in adopting different tools like Google Classroom, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, etc in their classrooms so teachers and students can utilize them for effective learning experiences.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ali Raza, Group Director of Beaconhouse Group said, “After COVID-19 we realized how important is to implement technology in our curriculum. With Google for Education tools and technologies, we are revolutionizing our schools.”

Under this digitization project, teachers and IT staff will also be trained on the Google for Education tools to leverage the technology to improve the teaching and learning process of the schools. The selected schools’ infrastructure will also be modernized and enhanced with Chrome OS Flex, a cloud-first, fast, easy-to-manage, and secure operating system.

CEO Tech Valley Umar Farooq mentioned, “We have started this pilot program with The Educators from Islamabad and Rawalpindi and plan on deploying Google for Education tools in more cities. We will also be focusing on Google for Education programs like CS First and Be Internet Awesome to prepare our kids for the digital world.”

Tech Valley Pakistan is a trusted partner of Google for Education, Google Workspace, and Google Cloud in Pakistan. Its mission is to inculcate a culture of technology and entrepreneurship through digital innovations.

The Educators, a project of Beaconhouse, has completed more than twenty years of service to educational development across the country with remarkable success. Established in 2002, it now has 900+ campuses & the market leader in Pakistan’s educational landscape.

Workshops have so far impacted nearly 1800 students, teachers and parents who have learnt about critical aspects of inline safety and how they can become responsible digital citizens.

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir) TikTok and Zindagi Trust continued their commitment to creating digital safety awareness in Pakistan with another round of workshops in government schools. Announced earlier this year, this partnership has seen Zindagi Trust conduct over 20 workshops so far in their adopted government schools, impacting nearly 1800 students, teachers, and parents who have learnt about critical aspects of online safety and how they can become responsible digital citizens.

The latest workshops were conducted in Karachi at the SMB Fatima Jinnah Government School and the Khatoon-e-Pakistan Government School, with the aim of disseminating information on how to navigate the digital world securely. Prior to the workshops, surveys were conducted by Zindagi Trust to gauge the level of understanding people have of the internet and its usage and the results were used to prepare contents for the sessions.

Close to 1000 students, aged 13+, attended the workshops, along with 200 teachers and more than 600 parents, to discuss and learn about best practices of internet usage and how they can become responsible digital citizens, to cultivate a safe online community across the nation. The workshops covered a range of topics including; safety features available on TikTok for parents and students, harmful behaviors prevalent on social media, ways to share appropriate information, identifying fake news and misinformation, and reporting mechanisms to report illicit and harmful content.

These workshops also provided an extensive guide on how to be a responsible digital citizen keeping in mind the diverse facets of the digital realm. Awareness regarding countering problems such as falling prey to fake news, cyber harassment, scamming etcetera was shared. Furthermore, the attendees were debriefed on different protection and correction mechanisms, local cyber laws and reporting platforms. 

A grade 7 student from SMB Fatima Jinnah quoted: “These sessions taught me about safety features available on TikTok and ways to identify scamming, cyber-bullying and cyber-harassment. It has also helped me navigate social media platforms more safely.”

Mr. Adnan, a parent who attended the workshop remarked: “This initiative is unlike any other, I believed I had a comprehensive knowledge about most things digital but I’m walking out having learned so much more.” Another parent stated: “Being here made me realize how important it is to have a progressive dialogue with our children rather than restricting them from digital access, awareness for parents about such topics will definitively help bridge the generational disconnect present.”

Another essential component of the workshops was constructing and strengthening trusting relationships between students, their parents and all school teachers, so students have trusted adults to turn to at schools and at home, in case they find themselves in any sort of cyber trouble.

In order to maximise knowledge retention about this subject, a digital safety module has been included in Life Skills Based Education curriculum in the schools adopted by Zindagi Trust and efforts are underway to promote this intervention across more government schools in Pakistan. Meanwhile, Zindagi Trust is also using its official TikTok account to publish informative videos and create public awareness about online safety.

Punjab govt urged to make Rules of Business, ensure 10% free & compulsory enrollment in private schools as per Free & Compulsory Education Act 2022.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) As the Punjab government has made a law for free and compulsory education across the province, stakeholders, while welcoming this long due legislation towards improving literacy rate, have urged the government to take practical measures to ensure the law is implemented without any delay and targets of sustainable development goals in education sector are achieved.
The provincial government last week had approved The Punjab Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2022 after a rigorous initiative of stakeholders especially educationists, civil society organizations, teachers and parents led by AwazCDS-Pakistan to make free education compulsory across the province.

“The passage of this law is a great achievement on the part of both government and all stakeholders as it would contribute a lot towards popularizing free and compulsory secondary education across the province,” remarked Chief Executive Awaz CDS Pakistan Zia ur Rehman while reacting to the government’s major step towards promoting education.

Towards achieving the desired goals of this law, he, however, said the government needs to ensure quick and across the board implementation of this law by taking along all stakeholders through sustainable collaboration.

It is to be mentioned here that the Punjab Education Department has instructed all private schools in the province to provide free education to ten per cent poor and deserving students, which is appreciated by the stakeholders.

Zia ur Rehman, however, urged the government to ensure that all private schools implement this clause immediately and without any discrimination so that poor but talented students can get quality education at these institutions for better future. He further urged immediate preparations of Rules if Business for the said law. He also appreciated the role of Legislatures Core Group Members on Education  especially MIAN Muhammad Shafee, Ayesha IQBAL , Aisha NAWAZ, Kanwal Liaqat, Uswa Aftab, Shamim Aftab, Seemabia TAHIR and Rahila Khadim Hussian among many others for their regular efforts to ensure the entac

Giving her input on the subject, Marium Amjad Khan, Program Manager-Awaz CDS-Pakistan, welcomed the law and suggested the government to establish more and more schools in order to encourage students enrolment ratio.

She mentioned that accessibility, low budget, teachers’ improper training and people’s socio-economic conditions are affecting literacy rate in the province. However, she stressed the need for extensive efforts from both government and stakeholders to sensitize more and more people on education.