Former Prime Minister of Britain and United Nations' Special Envoy on Global Education Gordon Brown also presented a petition carrying one million signatures of the people across the world to the President for showing solidarity with Malala Yousufzai. The President also signed the petition during the ceremony.
Addressing a special ceremony at the launching of 'Waseela-e-Taleem' initiative at the Aiwan-i-Sadr on Friday, the President said that the government was giving top priority to education, as no country could make progress without making investing in human capital.
He said: "It is our firm belief that ignorance and poverty go hand in hand and a combination of both give rise to militancy and extremism. We must fight against ignorance to fight poverty and militancy." The President said that Waseela-e-Taleem program lays solid foundation for an enlightened future of poor children.
Lauding BISP's performance, the President also thanked the international community, especially DFID, the World Bank and international development partners, including Britain, China and Turkey, for their support to equip Pakistan's young generation with education. He said: "BISP is the government's flagship program for poverty alleviation and women empowerment."
He said that he was satisfied that the program was developing into a comprehensive social safety net. Reiterating the government's commitment to achieve universal primary education, the president said that as a result of a Constitutional Amendment, it was now included in the fundamental rights. Urging provincial governments to extend all possible support to BISP, he said that their support was critical for the successful implementation of the program.
The ceremony was attended among others by former Prime Minister of UK and United Nations' Special Envoy on Global Education Gordon Brown, the President and Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, Governor of Gilgit-Baltistan, federal ministers, parliamentarians, representative of the donor organisations and BISP beneficiaries. Addressing the gathering, Gordon Brown assured that he would make efforts for supporting the government of Pakistan in the promotion of education.
Gordon Brown also presented a petition carrying a million signatures of the people from across the world to the President, expressing solidarity with Malala Yousufzai. The President also signed the petition during the ceremony. Federal Minister and Chairperson of BISP Farzana Raja and Federal Minister Sheikh Waqas Akram also spoke on the occasion.
Farzana Raja said that the launch of Waseela-e-Taleem was a landmark achievement. She said that this was the first-ever and the largest initiative for primary education, adding that it was one of the most significant components of BISP aiming at promoting education, empowerment and emancipation of children as per the MDGs of new millennium. Waseela-e-Taleem, she said, aimed at educating at least three million children of the poorest families in four years.
Earlier, the President also held a separate meeting with Gordon Brown wherein the President reiterated that government was according high priority to the promotion of education. The meeting was attended, among others, by Timo Pakkala, UNRC, Dan Rohrmann, representative for UNICEF, Pakistan, Dr Kozue Kay Nagata, representative UNESCO and Jean Luc Sibiot, country representative of WFP.
From Pakistan's side, the meeting was attended, among others, by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Chairperson of Benazir Income Support Program Farzana Raja, Minister for Education & Training Sheikh Waqas Akram, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan, Secretary-General to the President Salman Faruqui and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Sector Begum Shahnaz Wazir Ali and Spokesperson to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar.
Spokesperson to the President, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that Pakistan would greatly welcome UN and donors' technical and financial support in Technical and Vocational Education, use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), and skill-based training of youth besides improving the curricula to enrich skills and competencies.
He said that Gordon Brown briefed the President about the objectives of UN initiative "Education First" that aims at helping the member countries in promoting education. The meeting with Gordon Brown was followed by a briefing by the management of BISP on Waseela-e-Taleem initiative, which was also attended, among others, by Dr Ishrat Hussain, Shaukat Tareen and Ijaz Nabi. The spokesperson said that during the briefing, former finance minister Shaukat Tareen praised BISP, saying that its credibility and effectiveness had been verified by the World Bank and international donors.