Legislators in Punjab have shown their disappointment over the delay in promulgation of Punjab Free and Compulsory Act 2014.
The Punjab Assembly passed the said act unanimously with a great majority in November 2014; however, the law has neither ben notified nor its rules of business formulated for its implementation in letter & spirit even after six years. Parliamentarians condemned the usual bureaucratic hurdles towards the appropriate implementation of this law for assurance of constitutional right to education under article 25-A. Legislatures Core Group on Education comprised of 28 elected Parliamentarians of all political parties attended the two day’s workshop on girls right to quality secondary education under the aegis of AwazCDS-Pakistan’s Umang Program. Federal and provincial stakeholders and experts on education governance and financing including Parliamentarians shared their thoughts during the workshop and demanded immediate enactment of Punjab free and compulsory education Act 2014 in letter and spirit.
In his welcome address to the Participants Chief Executive of AwazCDS-Pakistan Mr. Zia ur Rehman said, Education is a fundamental human right and almost 22.8 million children including 12 million girls are deprived of their right to quality secondary education up to the age of 16 years. Pakistan has made commitment with United Nation’s under its 2030 agenda on sustainable development specifically under SDG 4 (quality education for all) that Pakistan would achieve 100% enrolment of all children up to the primary level by 2030. However this is estimated that Pakistan needs 12 trillion rupees in next ten years to make sure every child in schools and complete secondary level school education.
