The Pakistani government is working on a bill that will ensure the
provision of free books along with stationary and uniforms to the
children, a ruling party lawmaker said today.

“We are working on a bill that will ensure the provision of
uniforms and stationery along with free textbooks to the children,” said
Romina Khurshid of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), adding, the proposed bill would be tabled in the National Assembly soon.

She was speaking at a seminar organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here yesterday.

The seminar, titled ‘Making Quality Education Accessible in
Pakistan – A Social Accountability Perspective’ reflected upon SDPI’s
research on status of primary and secondary education in selected areas.

According to the organisation’s research, some of the reasons
behind rampant dropouts and non-enrolment in the schools was lack of
awareness about the importance of education, centralisation of powers
with district education authorities and the ability of teachers to
deliver quality education at public schools.

Khurshid said that provision of quality education at public
schools also depended a lot on the recruitment of well-educated and
qualified teachers.

Emphasising the importance of education, she said that the
government was devising polices that may provide quality education to
the children of Pakistan.

Pakistan still faces the uphill task of eradicating illiteracy
and according to the official statistics released by the Federal
Education Ministry of Pakistan, the overall literacy rate in the country
is 46 per cent, while only 26 per cent of girls are literate. In terms
of literacy, Pakistan ranks at 113th position among 120 countries of the
world.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/new-law-to-ensure-free-books-uniforms-in-pakistan-school-114111501309_1.html