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EC lauds Northern Pakistan Education Programme
SHR Jahfery
Islamabad—Jan De Kok Ambassador European Commission applauded the
the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN ) for its work in advancing
effective and sustainable education in the Northern Areas and
Chitral.
He was inaugurating a seminar marking a decade-long partnership in
the field of education between the Aga Khan Development Network and
the European Commission (Pakistan).
He said that the Northern Pakistan Education Program (NPEP) was
successful in increasing enrolments for both boys and girls, and
improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools,
non-formal centres and other educational institutions. He said that
the Programme also played an instrumental role in promoting
gender-awareness that significantly increased the enrolment rate of
girls and women in the education institutions. Referring to the
global partnership agreement between the AKDN and the EC, the
Ambassador said that collaboration between the two institutions is
creating development opportunities for the people in many parts of
the world.
Earlier, Al Nashir Jamal Chief Executive Officer The Aga Khan
Foundation (Pakistan) said that AKDN and its predecessor
institutions have been active in Pakistan for over a hundred years.
The first Aga Khan School was established in Gwader in 1905. The
Network is bringing together a number of development agencies,
institutions, and programmes that work primarily in the poorest
parts of Asia and Africa. The AKDN agencies make a long-term
commitment to the areas in which they work, guided by the philosophy
that the work must reflect the choices made by people themselves on
how they live and wish to improve their prospects.
He said that the support provided by the European Commission, the
two levels of the government, local communities, civil society
organizations and the private sector, has enabled the AKDN to
increase access, quality and effective governance for the education
system in the Northern Areas and Chitral. He said that because of
this support, the Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan (AKES, P)
schools now account for approximately one eighth of total primary
enrolments and they include nearly half of the girls’ enrolments in
the area. Girls in AKES, P schools outnumber boys by more than 3 to
1. Under the NPEP, AKES, P also worked closely with the government
through the Northern Pakistan Education Programme, supported by the
EC, to build government capacities and encourage enrolment rates
into the public sector schools.
He said that the AKDN has also focused on developing human resource
capacity at the tertiary level, through the Aga Khan University’s
Institute for Educational Development (IED), which was established
in 1993. He said that over the years, the Institute has grown to
become a national resource which is setting standards in higher
education in key development areas.
The IED has graduated hundreds of men and women from its two-year
Masters in Education degree programme and the Advanced Diploma
programme whereas thousands have benefited from its Certificate in
Education courses which attract both Pakistani and International
students.
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