PESHAWAR: Member Advisory Council for Education Dr. Aamir Abdullah on Friday visited headquarters of the Elementary and Secondary Education Foundation (ESEF) Peshawar where he was given a detailed briefing on the institution’s services, activities, responsibilities and objectives.
Managing Director ESEF Qaiser Alam, Special Secretary Elementary and Secondary Education Masood Ahmed and other officials of the foundation attended the briefing.
During the briefing, Dr. Aamir Abdullah was comprehensively informed about the foundation’s core objectives, overall performance, initiatives to promote formal and non-formal education, measures for educational institutions and students, scholarships, financial matters and future targets.
During the meeting, Member of the Advisory Council directed the foundation to present the available report on students’ learning outcomes in non-formal education under Education Monitoring Authority. He emphasized that the monitoring process should be conducted through an independent third party.
The relevant officials assured him that a proposal in this regard would be forwarded to the concerned authorities for further action.
Dr. Aamir Abdullah sought information from the foundation regarding its data on out-of-school children and directed officials to provide statistics on the number of children who had transitioned from non-formal education into the formal education system over the past three years.
He said that accurate and authentic data on out-of-school children could be obtained from NADRA and that he would contact the relevant authorities in this connection.
Expressing interest in the language courses offered at the modern Global Virtual Education School operated by the foundation in Gulbahar, Peshawar, Dr. Aamir Abdullah directed that Arabic and French also be included in the program. He stressed the need to engage qualified instructors for these courses.
Advisor Education further directed the foundation to expand its language-learning programs and ensure effective publicity of the school’s initiative so that the maximum number of interested students could benefit from the available facilities.
Dr. Aamir Abdullah also sought data on the financial circumstances of children studying in community schools operated by the foundation. He directed officials to introduce scholarships for deserving and underprivileged students enrolled in non-formal education who meet specified eligibility criteria.
Regarding artificial intelligence, he emphasized that children should initially be taught foundational courses rather than advanced-level content.
Advisor education directed the establishment of an endowment fund for the Elementary and Secondary Education Department on the pattern of Punjab, with all necessary requirements and arrangements incorporated into the proposal.
To increase student enrolment in non-formal education schools, he also directed that teachers’ salaries be brought up to at least the minimum wage.