A recently published UNICEF report has exposed the staggering scale of Pakistan’s education crisis: an estimated 25.37 million children aged five to sixteen are out of school—the second-highest number in the world. They represent 35 per cent of all children in this age group. Punjab alone accounts for 9.7 million, while Sindh has 7.4 million out-of-school children, or 44 per cent of its school-age population. The government’s Household Integrated Economic Survey 2024-25, released in January after a six-year gap, puts the national out-of-school rate at 28 per cent: 20 per cent have never entered a classroom, while another 8 per…
