LAHORE: The Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2013 in Pakistan’s most populous province that may bind the government to ensure education to children aged 5-16 years in the province has been consigned to cold storage, and there is no indication of having it passed from the Punjab Assembly in the near future.
Sources say the bill had been passed by the Punjab cabinet in its previous tenure and consequently presented before the Punjab Assembly. However, the assembly was dissolved after its five-year tenure.
Since then, there seems no progress on the subject. Only Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood had in February stated the Right to Education Bill, already passed by the Punjab cabinet, would be presented before the Punjab Assembly for approval in the first week of March.
Civil society organisations working for education are continuously demanding the government make the free education bill public for an open debate so it could be made into law, which would be free of controversies and apprehensions.
The Punjab government is supposed to enact the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Bill to ensure right to free and compulsory education for all children between 5-16 years of age, which was recognised under Article 25(A) incorporated in the 18th Amendment.
In Punjab, millions of children aged 5-16 were still out of school and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had last week launched Students Enrolment Campaign with a commitment to enrol some four million of such children this year. He also committed to enrolment of all out-of-school children by May 31, 2016.
According to the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2013, every child shall have a right to free and compulsory education from Class I to X, nonformal education, vocational education or a combination of all or any of the two.
The bill states the local government shall maintain a record of children up to the age of 16 years, ensure and monitor admission, attendance and completion of education by every child residing within its jurisdiction.
It further states that in case a child above five years of age has not been admitted to any school or after admission could not complete education, the local government shall develop a mechanism to ensure admission of the child in a school according to age, previous class and other circumstances.
The bill states the government and local authority shall have concurrent responsibility for providing funds to offer free and compulsory education to children. INTERNeWS
