Govt working to promote girls’ education, Wajiha Qamar tells WFP delegation

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training Wajiha Qamar has said the government of Pakistan, under Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, is taking steps to promote girls’ education, bring out-of-school children back into educational institutions and ensure equal access to quality education.

She said this during a meeting with a high-level delegation of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which called on her at the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.

The delegation included WFP Headquarters Rome Chief of Programme Operations (GPI) Ahmareen Karim, WFP Pakistan Country Director Anita Harsh, Senior Programme Policy Officer Kavita Brahm Bhatt and Partnerships Officer Rubina Zulqarnain.

Topics discussed

The meeting discussed in detail the promotion of girls’ education, gender equality, inclusive education policies, school nutrition programmes and joint measures to improve enrolment and attendance rates.

Wajiha Qamar said girls’ education was not merely an educational priority but a guarantee of Pakistan’s social and economic development, the empowerment of women and a brighter future.

She said that under the Prime Minister’s vision of an education emergency, effective steps were being taken to provide educational opportunities to girls, particularly in backward and remote areas, and to bring out-of-school children back into the education system.

Highlighting the importance of school nutrition programmes, the Minister of State said such initiatives not only helped meet children’s nutritional needs but were also an effective means of increasing enrolment, regular attendance and retention rates.

The meeting also discussed Pakistan’s national and international education goals, educational progress at the provincial level, barriers to girls’ education and ways to incorporate the principles of gender equality more effectively into the school meals programme.

Appreciating the role of the World Food Programme in education and food security in Pakistan, Wajiha Qamar said the government was committed to expanding cooperation with international development partners.

Both sides stressed the importance of further strengthening mutual cooperation, institutional links and joint strategies to promote girls’ education, educational inclusion and nutrition programmes in schools.