K-P renews push to enrol out-of-school children, expand girls’ education

Speaking at the seminar, Khalil said various schemes had been launched under the latest budget to increase student enrolment, with a special focus on girls’ education. He added that 73 new projects had been earmarked in the education sector for fiscal year 2026-27 at a total cost of Rs125.14billion, with an allocation of Rs3.89billion for the first quarter.

Read:PHC summons Peshawar BISE chairman, controller of examinations over student awarded 'zero' in biology. Khalil further said the government was working on construction of around 10,000 additional classrooms to enhance the capacity of existing educational institutions.

Similarly, he stated, work was underway to convert 50 mosques into government primary schools, enabling children in the respective areas to access formal education through existing religious institutions.

To provide educational opportunities to out-of-school and over-age children through the Elementary and Secondary Education Foundation (ESEF) and partner organisations, around 300 Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) centres have been established across the province, he added.

Outlining more measures to boost school enrolment and retention of girls, Khalid said that a monthly stipend of Rs500 is being awarded to every female student in the merged districts with the support of the World Food Programme (WFP).

“In pursuance of the directives of former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur, work was also underway to increase the stipend from Rs500 to Rs1,000 per month.”Earlier in her welcome address, KPCSW Chairwoman Dr Sumera Shams said the objective of the seminar was to discuss budgetary allocations for fiscal year 2026-27, development schemes and the implementation of initiatives related to girls’ education.

Read more:BISE Peshawar cracks down on cheating. Sumera highlighted that the government had increased the education budget by around 11% for the current fiscal year after concerns were highlighted by relevant stakeholders and representatives of the civil society organisations.

“However, our responsibility is to monitor the utilisation of the allocated funds to ensure effective implementation of the schemes and ensure that their benefits reach students, particularly girls,” she underscored.

Speaking at the seminar, Blue Veins Programme Manager Qamar Naseem stressed the importance of increasing pupil enrollment in K-P in view of the large number of out-of-school children in the province. He cited the 2023 population census, which indicated that around 4.9 million children were out of school in the province, of whom approximately 2.9 million were girls.

“Around 52% of girls aged between five and 16 were not attending school in K-P, while among those enrolled, around 60% did not reach secondary level,” Naseem emphasised. Also Read:Bara girls face higher education crisis.

The programme manager further said that bringing the estimated 4.9 million out-of-school children into the education system would require construction of around 15,000 new schools, which could take a considerable period of time. Even with full availability of resources, he added, the provincial government could construct only around 300 schools annually.

Therefore, he said he welcomed the Education Department’s announcement of a Multi-Sectoral Response policy to increase student enrollment. Exemplifying the initiative of the Sindh government under which private schools are engaged to provide additional space for students, Naseem recommended a similar public-private partnership be initiated in K-P to address the lack of infrastructure challenge.

Addressing the seminar attendees, K-P Assembly Secretary Syed Wiqar Shah called for measures to ensure implementation of the minimum wage in private schools, where teachers, particularly women, are often paid low salaries. He said the practice negatively impacted their performance.

Shah also offered the office of the Speaker of K-P Assembly to MPAs and other stakeholders for raising issues related to girls’ education and submitting suggestions for improving the system.