11,000 out-of-school children identified for enrolment in schools.

Byline: Kashif Abbasi

ISLAMABAD -- The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has identified over 11,000 out-of-school children who could be enrolled in schools in the first phase of its campaign.

According to a rough estimate, there are over 30,000 out-of-school children in Islamabad and FDE teams have so far managed to reach 11,029.

'We will decide how to enrol these students in schools in a meeting likely to be held on Friday,' said Saqib Shahab, director schools.

He said most of the out-of-school children are residents of Tarnol and Nilor. Asked what will happen if parents of the out-of-school children identified for enrolment refuse, he said legal proceedings will be initiated against them.

He said that article 25-A of the Constitution makes it the state's responsibility to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of five and 16.

'However, I do not think parents will refuse the admission of their children in schools,' he said, adding that the survey will continue and that FDE teams will reach out to all out-of-school children in the capital.

A few months ago, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood started a campaign for enrolling out-of-school children into schools and registered the first five students himself during a ceremony.

In the same ceremony, the minister had said that all the over 25,000 out-of-school children in the city will be enrolled in two years.

Sources said attempts have been made in the past to bring out-of-school children into schools and that these attempts failed because the root cause was not addressed, which is that these children contribute towards the finances of their households.

'I do not think the campaign will be successful if the families...