BISP enrolls 394,977 children under Waseela-E-Taleem

PESHAWAR: Minister of State and Chairperson BISP Marvi Memon, Wednesday visited Dargai in Malakand district and monitored progress of Waseela-e-Taleem (WeT) programme under which BISP enrolls 5-12 years old children of beneficiary families into primary schools.

She said that BISP has enrolled 394,977 children under WeT in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, out of which 63,907 children in Bannu, 118,374 in Charsadda, 13,580 in Haripur, 19,583 in Kohat, 47,672 in Malakand, 79,321 children in Mansehra and 52,540 in Nowshehra.

She added that the expansion of WeT to three more districts in consultation with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education department would start in Dera Ismail Khan, Mardan and Dir Upper from March 2018.

Under WeT initiative, BISP enrolls 5-12 years old children of its beneficiary families into primary schools while the beneficiary families receive Rs 750 per quarter per child with the condition of 70 per cent attendance compliance other than unconditional cash transfer (UCT) of Rs 4834 per quarter.

The Minister informed the beneficiaries that in order to expand the outreach of BISP and to include more deserving people in the programme, BISP would soon start resurvey in Malakand along with the rest of the country.

She urged the public to fully facilitate and cooperate with the survey teams so that no deserving is left out in the NSER survey.

She enquired beneficiaries that if they are provided with three or four stipends together instead of single quarterly stipend, would they be able to utilize the amount for initiating small businesses and graduate out of poverty.

Beneficiaries showed excitement over the idea and shared many propositions of small businesses and entrepreneurship which they could undertake.

Chairperson BISP encouraged the beneficiaries to enable themselves in basic counting so that they are fully aware of release, withdrawal and the savings from the quarterly stipend of Rs 4,834.

She also informed them that to overcome the difficulty in using ATM by beneficiaries, BISP would soon covert the payment mechanism to Biometric Verification System (BVS).

During the visit, Chairperson BISP held meeting with BISP Beneficiary Committee (BBC) where it was informed that there are 60,000 BBCs, each comprising 25 to 30 women, across the country.

BISP uses this platform to spread awareness among beneficiaries on education, nutrition, basic counting, the rights given to women by Islam and other local issues, it was said and added that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there are 2023 BBCs while in Malakand, there are 272 BBCs.

In the meeting with BBC, the Minister stated that BISP is not only contributing in the financial and educational uplift of its beneficiaries but also in nutrition, health and women empowerment.