Waseela-e-Taleem

A social safety net programme with the name of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was established in 2008 to tackle the catastrophic impacts of inflation and price hike on the poor, caused by recession in the world markets and highly increased food and fuel prices.
The Programme was launched initially for providing a fixed monthly cash grant to millions of poor families. This monthly cash assistance was provided to the families who were most vulnerable to abject poverty; thus, this grant was a subsistence allowance to make their survival possible by adding between 20-50 percent or more to their income.
Cash grants worth billions that have been provided to millions of beneficiary families in the last three years have helped in bringing a positive economic impact in their lives. It must be noted that this sort of cash grant is termed as "Unconditional Cash Transfer". It means that the amount which is disbursed to a beneficiary is not subjected to any condition for its spending. The beneficiary has the right to spend the cash as per his/her requirements.
Critics were of the view that Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)'s work may not be fruitful in case some long-term measures like provision of livelihood opportunities and education is not ensured. Through its graduation strategies, BISP launched demand-driven vocational and technical training programmes along with provision of micro-financing to ensure livelihood independence for millions of beneficiary families. For provision of health facilities, BISP is all sent to launch Health Insurance Programme whereas it has already provided Life Insurance facility to millions of its beneficiary families till date. For promotion of education, BISP is in the process of introducing Waseela-e-Taleem.
BISP has launched a nation-wide Poverty Scorecard Survey in late 2010 which is about to be completed. Alongwith the identification of beneficiaries, it has helped collect ideal data representing the socio-economic situation of almost 27 million households across Pakistan. This documented data can be used for various poverty reduction projects in Pakistan by the organisations world over.
Careful evaluation of the data collected through BISP's Nation-wide Poverty Survey regarding education has revealed that only 13% of BISP beneficiaries send all of their children to school, 50% of them send some of their children to school whereas 37% do not send even a single child to school. Thus it was learnt that primary education of beneficiaries' children is one of the major issue of the poor class in Pakistan.
The Waseela-e-Taleem programme is a welcome step for multiple reasons. Also, there are certain ways in which BISP can prove to be an ideal platform for providing education throughout the country. One, over the years, BISP has developed its reach to millions of families including those whose children are not going to school and secondly, through nation-wide poverty scorecard survey, it has compiled qualitative data to evaluate the problem and present a solution for it.
Third, as BISP has been playing a significant role in helping millions of poor families, it can put some sort of compulsion and condition for the cash transfer for education of the children of such families. Through Waseela-e-Taleem initiative, BISP is urging its beneficiary families to send their children to school so that they can become literate and become economically self-sufficient in the future.