Moalims

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department has started a survey for a voucher scheme under which 16,000 children will be provided educational expenses in six districts of the province.

According to documents available with The Express Tribune, Rs500 million in funds allocated for this purpose aim to provide education opportunities for the children of labourers, widows and those who cannot afford education expenses of their offspring.

The funds have been released for voucher distribution in six districts of the K-P – including DI Khan, Swat, Mardan, Peshawar and Mansehra. Under this new scheme, a survey will also be conducted on a large scale in the same six districts.

Documents show that these areas have been selected in view of the number of out-of-school children and poverty. The K-P Education Sector Programme (KESP) Adviser on Communications and Media Zunash Abbasi said the beneficiaries would include those children who could not afford to secure admission to private schools in areas where there is no government school within a two-kilometre radius.

She said the government has fixed a monthly tuition fee of Rs500 per student for a primary school, Rs600 per student for a middle school and Rs800 per student for a high school to be paid to the respective school through a voucher.

“Under the voucher scheme, an academic test will be taken from the students enrolled in the schools after every six months to evaluate performance of the students and teachers,” she said.

Abbasi said if the performance of the students is not satisfactory then the agreement with the school will be withdrawn. “After withdrawal of the agreement, the students will be admitted to another private school nearby,” she said.

Under the scheme, the provincial government would provide a voucher to parents which would enable the schools they enrolled their children in to receive a fixed amount to cover the tuition fee.

The focus of the initiative will be on children in the lowest income groups such as the offspring of labourers, kiln workers, daily wage earners, widows and those earning below Rs7, 000 a month.

The target families are residents of informal settlements, peri-urban localities and neighbourhoods where schools are unavailable within a six-kilometre radius.

After piloting the programme last year, it was scaled up to six districts. Over 14,000 children have benefited from the vouchers and they are now enrolled in private schools.

Khurshed Shah, a parent in Peshawar, appreciated the provincial government for this initiative and said two of his daughters are financially supported by government under this scheme.

“There are hundreds of parents who cannot afford school fees due to which their children are deprived from getting education. It is therefore needed that this scheme be expanded to all districts of the province so that poor people could secure bright future for their children,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2017.