Speakers at a dialogue between the young champions, parliamentarians and media person stressed the need for strengthening the public education system, equipping it with competitive human resource as well as basic facilities for enhancing the standard of education in the country.
The dialogue was arranged by Hayat Foundation in collaboration with 'Young Champions Initiative for Girls Education' (YCIGE) at the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad on Thursday. Parliamentarians Major (Retd) Rana Abdul Rehman, Rao Kashif Raheem, Dr Ghazala Rana and Zafar Iqbal Nagra (all members of the Punjab Assembly) were guests of honour, while former General Manager of PTV Munazza Hashmi, Unicef's representative Sehar Qizilbash, Chairperson of Hayat foundation Afshan Sultan and Additional Secretary (Budget and Planning) Mehmoodul Hassan took part in the dialogue.
Praising Punjab government's efforts, they said that it was setting up state-of-the-art educational system in the shape of Daanish Schools System in under-privileged areas of the province, besides providing scholarships to 34,000 needy students through Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF).
Ms Afshan Sultan told the audience that this dialogue was planned to advocate with parliamentarians and media to promote enrolment and student retention in six districts, including Lahore, Kasur, Faisalabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalnagar and Pakpatan, adding that media group and parliamentarians would be sensitised to recognise the role of young champions as change agents and community mobilizers for promoting gender rights and achieving gender equity. In the end mementoes were distributed among participants.