ISLAMABAD ( BMZ REPORT )
Waseela-e-Taleem (WeT) initiative is part of graduation strategy of BISP that aims to develop human capital so that its beneficiaries may exit out of poverty. Launched in October 2012 in five districts WeT has now expanded to 32 districts, enrolling 1.3 million children. BISP carried out supply capacity assessment of 55,000 public and private schools, constituted 50,000 BISP Beneficiary Committees (BBCs) and targets to enroll 2 million by December 2017. This was stated by Minister of State and Chairperson BISP MNA Marvi Memon during her visit to Government Primary School Jhanda Chichi, Rawalpindi where she launched hi-tech tablet based application for attendance compliance of children enrolled under WeT.
This hi-tech application has been designed by BISP in collaboration with Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) for continuous monitoring of attendance compliance in schools of WeT children. The app is supplemented with GPS that will update the attendance status online making the attendance compliance easy and transparent for BISP. The application will make the payment process efficient and fast, hence eliminating the delays in payment of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) under WeT.
Every beneficiary child from the age of 5 to 12 years, enrolled in primary schools under WeT, gets Rs. 750/- per quarter on 70% attendance compliance. Rs. 3 billion have been disbursed as (CCT) till date.
Chairperson BISP, during the visit, interacted with the children and teachers and also inspected the facilities in the school. The Chairperson said that BISP aims to ensure universal primary education by enrolling the children of most under privileged families. BISP is contributing towards Sustainable Development Goals on poverty, hunger, education and women empowerment.
Ms. Marvi also visited the house of BISP beneficiary Zubeida Bibi, whose four children have been enrolled under Waseela-e-Taleem and are studying in Government Primary School Jhanda Chichi. She appreciated the courage of Zubeida Bibi with which she is fighting the miseries of poverty and yet sending her children to school. She told Zubeida Bibi to participate in BISP Beneficiary Committee (BBC) meetings as they are the real women empowerment tool. BBCs are mandated to spread awareness on education, nutrition, family values, women rights in Islam, numeracy, livelihood and skills to make the beneficiaries empowered and inclusive socially and financially. Zubeida Bibi thanked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chairperson BISP for the financial assistance through BISP which enabled her to take better care of her family.