“The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill,” was passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan, in Islamabad on Tuesday. The children aged 5 to 16 of poor families will be provided free and compulsory education in Islamabad under this bill.

In the private schools, the deprived students were allotted 10 percent quota by the government under the 2012 Bill. The Minister for the Religious Affairs, Syed Khurshid Shah expressed a hope that with the passage of the bill, the province will follow suit and make legislation accordingly, and he said that providing free and compulsory education will be the basic priority of the government.

A fine of about Rs 25,000 could be charged on the parents of the children who do not attend the school or they could be jailed for six months. If it is found that the children who should be attending school are working then the parents will get double punishment.

In June of this year, the Bill 2012 was passed by the Senate.