BELA all set to undertake NFBE project

The basic education literacy authority (BELA) is all set to undertake Non Formal Basic Education project (NFBE) worth Rs 26 billion to improve literacy rate in the country. Sources in the ministry told Business Recorder that Planning Commission (PC), unhappy over the implementation of the project, has established BELA to ensure transparency in implementation.
The (PC) had constituted a committee headed by chairman National Education Foundation, Lieutenant General Sabeeh Qumar-uz-Zaman (Retd) to finalise modalities for setting up an authority that could undertake the NFBE project, initiated some ten years back to improve literacy rate by establishing home-based informal institutions.
The other members included Secretary Education, Sajid Hussain, Member Social Sector PC, Muhammad Jalil Minhas, Advisor PC, Dr Shaukat Hamid, Financial Advisor Education Ministry of Finance, Syed Muhammad Afzal and Chief of Science, Technology and Education PC, Ashraf.
In May 2005, the PC had declared NFBE a sick and slow-moving project and recommended its premature closure by the start of the next year but Education Minister Lieutenant General Javed Ashraf Qazi (Retd) refused to do so and asked the project director, Chaudhary Muhammad Akram to revise the PC-1 and submit it to the Planning Commission for approval.
It may be recalled that the education minister had also declared these schools a fraud, which he said instead of promoting literacy have become a source of income generation for education-related non-governmental organisation (NGOs).
The project department headed by Chaudhary Muhammad Akram, who was tasked to revise the PC-1 of Rs 26 billion has submitted it to the Ministry of Education.
The PC had asked the relevant project wing to take up the project in phases by dividing it into two categories, adult and basic literacy. Besides it wanted these schools to have permanent infrastructures, ie buildings, rather than being set up in homes. Under the revised PC-1 matric passed untrained teacher would be paid Rs 3,000 salary per month while the graduate teacher would be paid Rs 4,500 per month.
Under the basic literacy programme from primary to 6th class, the major policy thrust would be to shift these students into formal education whereas those who would be enrolled in adult literacy programme would be provided technical and informal education.
Pakistan had been a signatory to many international and multilateral forums, which demanded 100 percent literacy rate till 2015 besides meeting other quantitative goals in education sector. The supervisory allowance has also been increased from Rs 200 to Rs 500 per school per month.