Pakistan currently has over 25 million out-of-school children but this alarming reality continues to receive disproportionately little attention in public discourse and policy prioritisation. The data demands a response. Federal and provincial education budgets fall far short of the internationally recommended four per cent of GDP on education spending. The recent economic austerity measures have further strained the capacities of public schools, pushing more families towards either low-quality private alternatives or school dropout altogether. Concrete steps are urgently needed: increasing the education budget to at least four per cent of GDP, establishing accountability mechanisms for Article 25-A implementation, launching conditional cash transfer programmes linked to school enrolment for vulnerable families and investing in teacher training in underserved districts.
Khansa Abdul Rasheed
Lahore
