Islamabad, Feb 6 (IANS) About 28 per cent of school-age children in Pakistan — roughly 20 million — remain out of school, exposing structural failures that cannot be fixed by political slogans, a report has stated.
“The latest findings of the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) offer a sobering reality check on Pakistan’s education and human development trajectory. Despite repeated official declarations of an ‘education emergency,’ 28 per cent of school-age children — roughly 20 million — remain out of school,” an editorial in Pakistan-based ‘Business Recorder’ stated.
“While this represents a numerical decline from the 25.3 million reported in 2019, progress over six years has been painfully slow and deeply uneven, exposing structural failures that political slogans alone cannot fix,” it added.
The survey has also showcased the continuity of inequality. Rural girls, particularly in Sindh and Balochistan, continue to face exclusion. In Pakistan, one in four boys remain out of school while nearly one in three girls remain out of school.
This disparity in gender demonstrates entrenched social norms, widespread poverty, and weak public provisioning of education. Economic pressure pushes many boys to work at a young age while girls are unable to study due to family restrictions, the perceived irrelevance of schooling, or financial problems, according to the editorial.
The 20 per cent of children who never enrolled in school indicates that system is failing at the very first point of access, the editorial detailed. Punjab province of Pakistan reports the lowest out-of-school rate at 21 per cent, however, it has shown no improvement since 2019. This stagnates shows diminishing effectiveness of existing policies and a lack of innovation in reaching the hardest-to-reach children. Other provinces have worse statistics, showcasing that education remains a low priority in large parts of Pakistan.
“The broader socioeconomic context captured by the HIES helps explain why progress has stalled. High inflation and weak economic growth have eroded household resilience. Nearly one-fourth of households now face moderate to severe food insecurity, with Balochistan and Sindh the most affected,” the Business Recorder editorial detailed.
“Food insecurity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also risen considerably, while in Balochistan it has nearly doubled over six years. For families struggling to put food on the table, education becomes a luxury rather than a constitutionally guaranteed right,” it added.
–IANS
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