Strategies to bring back out-of-school children discussed.

ISLAMABAD -- Education Secretaries on Thursday vowed to address the issue of out-of-school children (OOSC) collectively through effective strategies for enrolments and retention, remote learning, and effective community engagement.

Federal Secretary for Education and Professional Training Naheed S. Durrani chaired a meeting of Inter-Provincial Education Secretaries Committee (IPESC) on Thursday. The agenda of the meeting was 'proposals from provinces and regions addressing the challenges of out-of-school children'.

At present, Pakistan has 22 million out-of-school children.

According to ministry of education, the meeting was attended by representatives of all provincial education departments, Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC) secretary, Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) chairman, Federal Directorate of Education director general and Director General National Commission for Human Development.

Federal Secretary said that Out of School Children is one of the biggest issues that the education sector of Pakistan faces today. She said that OOSC number is a key determinant for human development for any country.

She emphasized that to address the socio-economic plight of the country OOSC issue must be addressed head on. She said that drop-out and retention rates can be improved via creating an environment of ownership for children. She said that the federal government wants to create a supportive environment for all provinces to work in synergy to resolve this issue.

Ms. Naheed S. Durrani was briefed by all of the provinces about their programs to reduce OOSC. The forum was told that the school closures and resulting academic losses during COVID-19 have further worsened the OOSC challenge, showing how fragile our education system is.

The federal secretary said: 'we need an effective response to meet this serious crisis, and it is high time that we re-imagine our education service provisions and its management to ensure Pakistan's education remains relevant and allows our young children to compete and thrive,' she said and continued: 'we need to address the issue of OOSC collectively through effective...