The Federal Education Ministry is set to launch an initiative where students from the government schools will have a chance to visit various national universities for orientation and exposure to broader vision of life and better decisions about their future education.
According to a senior official of the education ministry, the programme aims at empowering students to make informed decisions about their future educational pursuits.
Through exposure to different university environments, the students will gain valuable insights into various academic programmes, research opportunities and campus life, said the official adding, the hands-on experience will help them explore their interests, discover potential career paths, and set realistic goals.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has 26 million children between the ages 5 and 16 who are not in school and millions not learning the basics (Pakistan Population Census 2023).
The report based on the 2023 census is titled ‘The Missing Third of Pakistan’ and undertakes a tehsil-level analysis, identifying the top 10 and bottom 10 tehsils with respect to the out-of-school children OOSC.
According to the study, KotMandal in Sibi has the highest percentage i.e. 91.62pc kids out of school.
According to the report prepared by the Pakistan Alliance for Math & Science (PAMS) 79pc of these out of school children have never been to school and 21pc drop out at various stages.
The highest proportion of the children who have never been to school belong to age 5-9 years, threatening Pakistan’s future literacy rates, the report says adding more than 25pc of non-enrolled children are concentrated in merely 45 tehsils across the country, urging the government to intervene at the tehsil level to reduce the number of children who do not go to schools.
“Pakistan has 25.3 million children between the ages five and 16, who are not in school; 79pc of whom have never been to school and 21pc drop out at various stages. The highest proportions of children who have never been to school belong to age 5-9 years, threatening Pakistan’s future literacy rates,” the study, which is not officially released yet says.
The number two in this alarming scenario is TolKhulla of South Waziristan district (90.8pc). Sanni tehsil of Kacchi has 89.1pc, Battaria of KolaiPalasKohistan has 88.4pc, Gichk of Panjgur has 88.3pc, Talao of Duki has 87.9pc, and Kharo Chan of Sujawal district in Sindh has 87.8pc out-of-school children.
Kandla tehsil in Upper Kohistan, KetiBunder in Thatta, and Chattar tehsil in Nasirabad district in Balochistan each have 87pc out-of-school children. The 45 lagging tehsils that account for 26pc of out-of-school children — basically one-fourth of the total children in the country are also included in the report.
