Federal government, on the recommendations of Ministry of Population, has asked the provincial governments to appoint only such prayers leaders (Imams) and Khateebs in the mosque who had got education and training about population-related issues and other Imams be removed from the service.
Ministry of Population has trained 11,000 clerics to educate people about population-related issues, and they would be eligible to get jobs in Auqaf department, it is learnt here on Thursday.
The ministry plans to prepare 21,000 Khateeb and Imams to mould public opinion on population welfare issues. It hopes the programme will help reduce the population growth rate to 1.3 percent by 2020.
The source said the ministry wanted to encourage people to create a balance between their resources and family size. "The media should also educate people about implications of over-population to expedite socio-economic development of the country," the source said.
The Ministry of Population is also encouraging public-private partnerships to raise awareness among the workforce of public and private organisation about several population issues. Under the public-private partnerships, the ministry has already forged partnership with several public and private sector organisations to achieve the desired targets of population welfare.
The Ministry of Population will facilitate the private sector in holding capacity building training workshops for paramedical staff, in reproductive health service delivery and establishment of family welfare centres. "The project will go a long way in creating balance between population size and resources," the source said.