All Transgenders eligible in Ehsaas Kafaalat

Ehsaas school stipends extended to higher secondary level

Islamabad: The 50^th Board meeting of BISP held a meeting under the Ehsaas framework and declared All Transgenders declared eligible in Ehsaas Kafaalat.

It also took many other important decisions. The board approved the inclusion of all transgenders in the Ehsaas Kafaalat programme. The government will bring transgenders holding valid CNICs into the fold of Ehsaas Kafaalat.

The programme will provide a stipend of Rs. 2,000 a month along with a savings bank account. Meanwhile, transgenders usually live as a separate community and the government will declare all transgenders in a household as Kafaalat beneficiaries.

The Board also approved the establishment of 154 district-level Ehsaas Centers modeled on the One Window Ehsaas Center in Sitara Market in Islamabad. This will enable all services to assess accessed under one roof, greatly facilitating beneficiaries. Work on this will commence immediately.

The Prime Minister had opened the first One Window Ehsaas Centre in the federal capital on June 9, 2021, to deliver all Ehsaas services through a single window.

Additionally, the Board also ratified the enhancement of Ehsaas’s education stipends to secondary and higher secondary levels. The new conditional cash transfer programme is aimed at helping underprivileged families to educate their primary school-going children to a higher secondary level.

The programme will begin next month in all districts of the country.

With an additional emphasis on girls accessing secondary and higher secondary education, the enhanced Ehsaas education stipends offer a higher stipend amount for them in comparison to boys; girls get Rs. 4,000 per quarter and boys get Rs. 3,500 per quarter. The programme design further allows all payments to make biometrically to the mothers of the enrolled children.

“The secondary and higher education stipends will empower low-income households with improved access to education until the 12th grade, according to the Ehsaas strategy post-COVID,” said Dr. Sania Nishtar.

Furthermore, the Board also approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for the Ehsaas Targeted Subsidy program with Utility Stores Corporation.

Meanwhile, on the recommendation of the Finance committee, the Board also approved the budget for 2021/22. Many other decisions related to operations were taken.