The Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) has announced that it will expand the New School Programme (NSP) to 12 districts in the current fiscal year. Applications have been called for this purpose, a PEF spokesman said on Sunday.
The project has been expanded to remote areas. Less developed areas where people are too poor to send their children to school or where the number of schools is inadequate have been nominated. The expansion will focus on girl students.
Under the NSP, the PEF will also partner will low-cost private schools in Faisalabad, Bhakkar, Khanewal, Muzaffargarh, DG Khan, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Lodhran, Vehari, Bahawalnagar and Pakpattan.
The spokesman said that the NSP programme is part of a six-year plan to enrol out-of-school children in private schools. Such programmes have helped the cause of education in poor and remote areas, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 18th, 2013.