Unicef and School Education Department jointly organised a consultation meeting with district authorities and communities of district Lahore to review the progress of Young Champions Initiatives for Girls Education (YCIGE) project which was initiated in 6 selected districts in Punjab (Pakpattan, Kasur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalnagar, Faisalabad and Lahore) for ensuring its effective implementation at local level.
YCIGE, a United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI), lays emphasis on increasing school enrolment and decreasing dropouts. The project is being implemented by Pakistan Girl Guide Association (PGGA) and Pakistan Boy Scouts Association (PBSA) in collaboration with two NGOs (Jahandad Society of Community Development/ Lahore and Hayat Foundation), School Education Department, civil society, media and parliamentarians with technical and financial support of UNICEF.
Muhammad Pervaiz Akhtar, EDO (Education) District Lahore showed keen interest in supporting YCIGE in Lahore district to enrol marginalized out-of-school children both in formal and non-formal schools. He said that Lahore was 8th in performance among 36 districts in Punjab. He recommended regularising literacy centers not only at the primary but also at the secondary level. He said that 450 NFBE Centers were opening in Lahore district, adding that there were 118,000 children enrolled in schools, raising the total strength of students in Lahore's public sector schools to 673,000.
Officials from District Government and School Education Department, media educationists, PGGA, PBSA and representatives of civil society were in attendance. Progress review of United Nation Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) and YCIGE was shared by Sobia Fazilat, Co-ordinator UNGEI-Punjab and Usman Zafar, Co-ordinator, JSCD, Lahore, respectively.
Musthaq Ahmad Tiwana, DMO, District Lahore, Mahmood Hassan, Additional Secretary (B&P), School Education Department and Zulfiqar Ali, DEO (M-EE), Lahore City also addressed the audience.