06-26-2006, 09:14 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b> Pakistan offers free school to one-child families </b>
By Arshad Sharif
Fri Jun 23, 8:40 AM ET
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060...ulation_dc
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani families that have only one child will have that child's education paid for by the government under a novel plan to try and bring down the country's rapid population growth.
With 156 million people, according to the latest government figures, Pakistan is the world's sixth most populous country, and it's getting bigger by nearly 2 percent a year.
That growth rate is slower than it was a few decades ago but it's still too fast, according to the government, which has made fighting widespread poverty a priority and sees population growth as a major complication for that effort.
Minister for Population Welfare Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain says he is sure the plan to offer children of one-child families free education until the age of 18 will have an impact. "Definitely, incentives will increase the acceptance of family planning," Hussain told Reuters.
"People will be aware that if they have small families, they will get a lot of benefits, their kids will have a better chance of education," he said.
The plan, the first of its kind in Pakistan, is being launched with a survey starting on July 1 to determine the number of one-child families, he said. At the moment, education is free in state schools only up to the primary level.
Pakistan has had a family planning program to arrest population growth since soon after the country's formation in 1947 but it has had limited success.
The population has shot up from 34 million in 1951 and every day 11,500 babies are born.
But some progress is being made.
Hussain's ministry says the use of contraception among women between the ages of 15 and 49 has increased from 9 percent in 1985 to 36 percent in 2005.
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Not clear whether its per wife or per man or per Nikah?
By Arshad Sharif
Fri Jun 23, 8:40 AM ET
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060...ulation_dc
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani families that have only one child will have that child's education paid for by the government under a novel plan to try and bring down the country's rapid population growth.
With 156 million people, according to the latest government figures, Pakistan is the world's sixth most populous country, and it's getting bigger by nearly 2 percent a year.
That growth rate is slower than it was a few decades ago but it's still too fast, according to the government, which has made fighting widespread poverty a priority and sees population growth as a major complication for that effort.
Minister for Population Welfare Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain says he is sure the plan to offer children of one-child families free education until the age of 18 will have an impact. "Definitely, incentives will increase the acceptance of family planning," Hussain told Reuters.
"People will be aware that if they have small families, they will get a lot of benefits, their kids will have a better chance of education," he said.
The plan, the first of its kind in Pakistan, is being launched with a survey starting on July 1 to determine the number of one-child families, he said. At the moment, education is free in state schools only up to the primary level.
Pakistan has had a family planning program to arrest population growth since soon after the country's formation in 1947 but it has had limited success.
The population has shot up from 34 million in 1951 and every day 11,500 babies are born.
But some progress is being made.
Hussain's ministry says the use of contraception among women between the ages of 15 and 49 has increased from 9 percent in 1985 to 36 percent in 2005.
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Not clear whether its per wife or per man or per Nikah?