Fresh hope for girls who quit

The Sindh government has joined hands with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to establish special centres to spread literacy among out-of-school girls in the province. The JICA-assisted Advanced Quality Alternative Learning (AQAL) project was launched yesterday at a programme organised by the Directorate of Literacy & Non-Formal Education of the Sindh government to mark the International Literacy Day.

Key focus

The main focus of the programme was issues related to adult literacy drives and girls’ education in the province as the panel discussions were held to highlight the shortcomings in this regard.

The AQAL project is aimed at establishing 1,440 special literacy centres in eight selected districts of Sindh to enrol around 35,000 girl students. The project will be executed from 2021 to 2025.

Last year, the then Sindh Education minister Saeed Ghani conceded before the Sindh Assembly that around 3.5 million children were out-of-school in Sindh.

According to an estimate, 52 per cent of the children belonging to the poorest communities in Sindh, of whom 58 per cent are girls, are out-of-school.