Pakistan, UNESCO sign MoU to promote education for girls

PARIS: Pakistan and UNESCO on Monday signed historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish "The Malala Fund for Girl's Right to Education" to promote girls education in Pakistan and other countries with the support of international community.

The MoU was witnessed by President Asif Ali Zardari as Federal Minister for Education and Training Sheikh Waqas Akram and Director General United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Mrs. Irina Bokova inked the document at the UN's Paris Headquarters here.

The event was held in connection with an international conference on Malala to promote girl's education and to mark International Human Rights Day. The Fund, being established following the signing of President Zardari and Director General UNESCO will consist of a revenue account and other modalities for managing funds for programmatic activities for the betterment of girl's education, and Pakistan announced ten million US dollars as seed money for the fund.

Under this MoU, the main aim of the UNESCO is to reach out to ensure the education for girls with in the framework and in line with the objectives and priorities of the United Nations Secretary-General's Global Initiative on Education and the UNESCO Global Partnership for Girls' and Women's Education. The programme will achieve the goals of improving access for girls at all levels of education, improve the quality and relevance of basic education to ensure that educational contents, teaching practices and learning environments are gender-sensitive and eliminate school-related gender-based violence.