Jawad Ahmad launches non-formal education plan

Staff Report

LAHORE: With a view to giving practical shape to his ambitious plans in the education sector, pop singer Jawad Ahmad has announced a non-formal education plan in Kasur district under Taleem for All Trust to be launched in three months.

Jawad Ahmad, who has been appointed goodwill ambassador by the Ministry of Education, said that Trust had initially identified 39 districts across the country - 21 in Balochistan, four in NWFP, six in Sindh and four in Punjab - for materializing its plan to spread non-formal education among children in under-privileged areas.

“As a first step, we have picked Kasur district for establishing non-formal schools for imparting quality education to the children, who could only dream of studying in formal educational institutions,” he added.

Mr Ahmad, who is also the Trust’s president, said luckily Kasur district government had offered to adopt 147 non-functional schools to start their non-formal setup of education in the district. However, the Trust will adopt only 50 schools, he added.

He said education was the core issue in Pakistan and it had to be addressed in an organized manner for a complete revamp of the education system in the country. “Non-formal schools are the only option to provide basic education and literacy skills to the children of rural areas,” he added.

As the government is short of resources, he said the desired literacy rate could not be achieved without proper assistance from the private sector. “I am looking forward to play my role in the education sector through standardization and expansion of the educational network in far-flung areas,” he added. However, he said it would not end just by establishing a few institutions in different areas of the country.

He said that non-formal schools would be the most feasible option as such institutions were more cost-effective and time-efficient as compared to formal educational institutions. Apparently, he said there would be a compromise on the physical environment of these non-formal schools but their syllabus would definitely be kept up-to-date.

Talking about teachers’ training programme, the pop singer said the Trust, as its maiden project, had planned to establish a teachers’ training centre for initiating at least one-year course to inject all necessary skills among the aspiring teachers enabling them to impart non-formal education to the children in the remote areas. “The initial training will be followed by refresher courses and workshops on regular basis,” he added.

Home | National