QUETTA:International Rescue Committee (IRC), under its Teach & Educate Adolescent Girls with Community Help (TEACH) project, reached out to 29,000 out-of-school girls of 5 districts of Balochistan including Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Nushki, Kharan and Chagai.
“IRC is striving hard to promote girl’s education in Balochistan besides imparting vocational trainings on financial literacy and trades to make them financially independent,” said Shareef Mengal, Head of IRC Balochistan during a policy dialogue titled “Improving future of girl’s education in Balochistan held in collaboration with UK aid at local hotel here.
Balochistan Education Minister Naseebullah Mari was the chief guest while representatives from the Education ministry, Directorate of Special Education, Literacy, Non-Formal Education & Human Rights Department, Balochistan Assessment and Examination Commission, Balochistan Textbook Board , Policy Planning Implementation Unit , Provincial Institute of Teachers Education, Education Support Programme, Global Partnership of Education, German Agency for International Cooperation, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund Society for Community Strengthening and Promotion of Education, Balochistan, Institute for Development Studies and Practices, Japan International Cooperation Agency were also attended the event.
The event hosted conversations with multiple stakeholders including education experts and government functionaries on the barriers faced by girls in the province in pursuing their education and discussed possible solutions to combat those barriers.
While highlighting the salient feature of the project IRC chief in Balochistan Shareef Mengal said under the ‘Girls Learn’ stream of the project, 22,000 girls received classes on Package A, B and C of non-formal curriculum, of them 4000 enrolled in mainstream formal schooling system.
Under’ Girls Earn’ stream of the project, 7000 girls completed Package A of the non-formal curriculum, out of these 7000 girls, 5000 received training on financial literacy and business development planning. 2400 girls received training on 8 vocational trades and toolkits and 250 girls received financial grants to start a business.
Naseebullah Marri, Education Minister Balochistan urged that ‘We must do our part to remove the barriers faced by girls in the region so that every girl can pursue her education and become a valuable member of society”
‘The Government is making all out efforts to combat the low literacy rate which has affected girls from all ethnic groups, and socioeconomic backgrounds,”
We are committed to assist and contribute to building economically prosperous, and educated Balochistan, so every child has access to education.
He, however, welcomed the support extended by the International Rescue Committee for providing educational and vocational training opportunities, saying, he is very grateful for the on-ground initiative of community-based schools in Balochistan.”
Abdul Rauf Baloch – Secretary Secondary Education, on the occasion, appreciated the contributions of IRC for girls’ education in Balochistan.
He shared that education is a complex subject which cannot be discussed without WASH, health and other facilities.
Zain Ul Abedin Khan, Deputy Director Programs, IRC, in his remarks said that “We as a society need to commit to prioritize and focus on Girls’ Education through adequate resources. Girls’ education in Balochistan is one of the biggest challenges faced by the country and to deal with it we must work with innovative methods like Non-Formal Education.
” He further added that, “Over the years, we have realized that if girls are unable to reach school, all stakeholders need to fill the gap and provide access to lifelong learning opportunities like productive skills and life-skills within communities.
The panel discussions established an opportunity for the policy makers and practitioners to understand that girls’ education is correlated with lower rates of poverty and improved health outcomes. While stimulating dialogue, the stakeholders pledged to work together to eradicate the barriers to girls’ education by providing gender inclusive facilities and quality of education.
The event was a culmination of three sessions where the first was hosted to discuss the barriers faced by girls in pursuing their education. The second session was focused on sustainable initiatives to combat the barriers with the help of Non-Formal Education in bridging the gap between primary and secondary schooling.
Earlier, girls educated and trained under TEACH shared their experiences in overcoming the barriers and impact of the program on their life.