By Hina Kiyani
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar Thursday disclosed that the scope of Ehsaas’ Waseela-e-Taleem Digital initiative has been expanded from 50 districts to all the districts of the country. The program has been end-to-end digitized for ensure transparency and the ratio of stipend to girls has been kept higher than of boys, Dr. Nishtar said in her tweets. Waseela-e-Taleem digital program is a conditional cash transfer program which provides monthly stipend of Rs. 2000 for girls and Rs. 1500 for boys enrolled in primary education, she said. Those parents having children aged between 4-12 years studying from initial to primary level in the schools registered with Department of Education can enroll their children in the program to get benefit.
She said the parents can contact Ehsaas offices set up at the district level nationwide for registration of their child. They must bring `B Form’ and admission receipt attested from the school headmaster with them for registration. A digital photo of the child is also taken at the time of registration. Considering the digital nature of the program, Dr. Nishtar pointed out that significant importance has been given to the training of the staff. She said the relevant staff and teachers of the respective districts are being given technical training related to the program for achieving desired results while targets for each districts have been set. She informed that prior to the launching of this program at each district, an awareness campaign is run to brief the local education departments, teachers and parents about the objectives of the program. Announcements are also made at mosques to inform the public about this initiative, she added. Dr. Nishtar conveyed that the payment of stipends in the digital Waseela-e-Taleem initiative is linked with the compliance of the established rules. She said under the modern monitoring system, attendance details of the students are collected from their schools and stipends are issued through following rules and regulations. The registration process of the primary school children under Ehsaas Waseela-e-Taleem program is continued in all the four provinces as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad. The registration process will continue through the year, she added.
