ISLAMABAD: The Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) has registered eight million children and distributed Rs. 40 billion to them as part of the Benazir Taleemi Wazaif Program, a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) project.
An official source said that the future goal is to enroll three million more youngsters by the fiscal year 2022-23 with an allocation of Rs. 35 billion.
Since its inception in 2012, the initiative has focused on increasing school enrolment and decreasing dropout rates among children of BISP members through monetary incentives.
The goal of this initiative was to raise awareness about the significance of education among recipient households, boost enrollment rates, and minimize dropout rates by assuring retention. Children from Benazir Kafalat recipient families aged 4 to 22 are engaged in the program from elementary to grade 12.
The program provides a quarterly payout of Rs. 1500 for primary, Rs. 2500 for secondary, and Rs. 3500 for higher secondary for boys, and Rs. 2000 for primary, Rs. 3000 for secondary, and Rs. 4000 for higher secondary for girls.
The initiative provides a greater stipend for female students, as well as a one-time graduation incentive of Rs. 3000 upon completion of elementary school. The financial payout is conditional on 70% attendance at school.
The biometric-based payment method is in place, and the stipend is paid through the mother of the children who has registered. To reduce leakage and maintain transparency in execution, the initiative is being carried out using an end-to-end digital enrollment and monitoring method.
Concerning the program’s impact, the source stated that it has helped boost the proportion of children now enrolled in school by 13% for males and 15% for girls. School enrolment rates in BISP families are much higher (81 percent) for those supported by the CCT than for those who are not (60 percent).
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