More than 26.2 million children are out of school in the country, says a report submitted in the National Assembly by the Education department.
The Ministry of Education report stated that two crore, sixty-two lac, six thousand and five hundred and twenty children are out of schools across the country.
Details of the report state that one crore, seven lac, seventy-four thousand, eight hundred and ninety boys and girls from five to nine years are out of school, including forty nine lac, seventy-two thousand, nine hundred and forty-nine boys and fifty-eight lac, one thousand, nine hundred and forty-one girls.
The report also delineates that forty-nine lac, thirty-five thousand, four hundred and eighty-four boys and girls between the age of 10 to 12 years are deprived of middle education, in which twenty-one lac, six thousand, six hundred and seventy-two boys and twenty-eight lac, twenty-eight thousand eight hundred and twelve girls are deprived of middle education.
Additionally, Pak Alliance for Maths and Science (PAMS) has also published a research based report on the huge number of out-of-school children in Pakistan. The report is titled The Missing Third of Pakistan.
Pakistan is home to 71 million children aged five to 16. The report’s analysis, based on data from the 2023 population and housing census, estimates that an estimated 36 per cent, or 25.3 million, of these children are out of school.
Among the out-of-school children, 53 per cent are girls, and 47pc are boys, it stresses.
The report highlights a breakdown of out-of-school children in different districts of the country, out of which 45 tehsils contribute to 26pc of Pakistan’s out-of-school children crisis: 30 are in Punjab, 12 in Sindh, two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one in Balochistan.
