Of the 27 million children in the primary school age bracket in Pakistan, 13 million are not enrolled in schools, and more than half of them are girls.
Approximately, 50 percent of children enrolled in schools are dropped out before completing their primary education.
Punjab Coalition for Education Campaign (PCEC) Co-ordinator Muhammad Jalil Butt stated this while addressing a press conference here on Monday.
He said over 100 countries, including Pakistan, will be celebrating 'Week of Action' from April 19 to 25, 2004 to echo the appeal for free and quality education for every child across the globe, adding the 'Global Campaign for Education' will take place in this week.
He said in Pakistan, 26 NGOs have formed a coalition called the 'Pakistan Coalition for Education' to co-ordinate their Global Action Week activities in collaboration with the Education Ministry, Unicef, Unesco, and WFP, adding through human and technical resources, the network of NGOs and the government together can double the literacy rate of Pakistan.
Jalil Butt said that efforts must be made to promote functional education so that job could be made available according to their skills and abilities. Providing quality education, healthy environment in schools and educated teachers is the responsibility of the state, therefore, NGOs is making an agenda for helping government improving education standard, he added.
Liaqat Ali of the Legal Awareness Watch, said on the occasion that the Action Week is being observed exactly four years after 182 countries met at Dakar in Senegal, in April 2000, adding these countries committed to providing education for all, and yet 100 million children are unable to go to schools; 60 million of them are girls.
He said that millions of children in 100 countries across the world have never gone to school.
According to UN estimates, $5.6 billion donor funding in a year would enable all children to go to school, he said, adding that the Coalition is inviting politicians and decision-makers in its programme called 'Go Back to School' so as to see the problems being faced by students and the teachers.