Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui welcomed the former Prime Minister of Norway Mr. Kjell Magne Bondevik. He said that Mr. Kjell Magne Bondevik is a friend of Pakistan who has always worked towards helping Pakistan in fighting its challenges. Dr. Khalid said that the presence of His Excellency internationalised the agenda of the International Conference on Girl’s Education. Federal Minister said that Pakistan is taking the lead for the Islamic countries to tackle the issue of girl’s education and Out of School Children in general. 

Federal Minister said that Pakistan faces a myriad of challenges in the field of education in the wake of climate change. He said that Pakistan has huge challenges but his Ministry has taken up this issue with utmost emergency. He said that we have mobilised all of our resources to address this issue. He said that the Government of Pakistan has also declared an educational emergency. He said that currently the Ministry of Education is addressing the issues of access to schools, limited infrastructure, quality of teachers training and nutritional problems of children in collaboration with other ministries.

Dr. Khalid said that due to our efforts the percentage of Out of School Children with respect to population is decreasing however the overall number is increasing. He said that to develop and implement targeted interventions a special department called Pakistan Institute of Education has been developed to gather accurate data about challenges being faced by the Education sector of Pakistan.