Ambassador of United Kingdom to Egypt John Casson visits PEF

Lahore: Ambassador of United Kingdom to Egypt John Casson visited the head office of Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) on Thursday to study its free education programs for the low income families in the Punjab.

On the occasion, Chairman PEF Qamar ul Islam Raja and Managing Director Tariq Mahmood briefed the UK envoy about important role being played by Punjab Education Foundation in the field of school education to help open the doors of educational institutions on children of low income families who cannot afford such schooling on their own due to lack of resources.

Chairman PEF Mr. Raja said that more than two million most deserving male and female students are getting free quality education through the network of more than six thousand partner schools situated in all the 36 districts of the province. This has opened new avenues for hapless communities to step forward through the education of their children.

PEF provides monthly fee ranging from Rs. 550 to Rs. 1100 per student to school partners according to school category, besides providing textbooks free of cost. It is sanguine to note that 45 percent of the beneficiaries are girls while non-muslim Pakistani communities are equally benefitting from the foundation’s programs. PEF has also initiated inclusive education project in the districts of Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and Vehari by involving its partner schools. The purpose is to rehabilitate and strengthen the differently abled students through education. Other developing countries can also improve access to education by introducing PEF type model and helping the indigent strata to send their kids to schools offering free education.

The UK ambassador was also apprised about IT based interventions and teachers training system so that partner school teachers could work and deliver better. In order to ensure smooth working of partner schools and to arrange better monitoring, district level monitoring mechanism has also been established.

Different program directors also briefed the meeting about their role in promotion of education at the grassroots.