Vice Chancellor Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Prof. Dr Nasir Mehmood has urged all public and private sector institutions and non-governmental organizations to work together for achieving 100 percent literacy rate in Islamabad and bringing its 50,000 drop-out children into the educational network. He was addressing the meeting of the Non-Formal Education (NFE) forum here on Friday. Prof. Mehmood said that AIOU will train the teachers of the institutions working to include the dropout children in the educational network. The training courses for teachers of non-formal education institutions were being updated, he said, adding their duration was increased from six months to one year. “All the services in regional offices of AIOU across the country are available for the stakeholders working for non-formal education,” he assured.
In the meeting, Program Specialist of JICA, Bilal Aziz, Director General, Pakistan Institute of Education, Dr Zaigham Qadeer, Saqib Farooq from Ministry of Federal Education, Chairman, Elementary Teacher Education, AIOU, Dr Fazal-Ur-Rahman, Chairman Department of Distance, Non-Formal and Continuing Education, AIOU, Dr Muhammad Ajmal Chaudhry, and representatives of private sector institutions and non-governmental organizations were also present. All stakeholders reiterated to intensify efforts to “make Islamabad 100% literate”. They introduced their respective institutions and briefed about the educational and social services they are proving.
