March 19, 2021- Islamabad: Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired the steering committee meeting of Waseela-e-Taleem Digital wherein the committee members and experts took a decision to roll out an education stipend programme for secondary education under Ehsaas. Through engaging discussions, the meeting took stock of existing secondary stipend programmes in the country. It was discussed that the upcoming programme for secondary school stipends will be designed and executed in close coordination with provinces to avoid duplications. Currently, there are 18.7 million out of school children, in the age group 6 to 16, in the country. According to Demographic and Health Survey 2017 (Kaplan and Meier estimates), dropout rate is highest for the poorest two quintiles in secondary education. Hence Ehsaas is working on a financial access to secondary education programme.
