FOR a child growing up in poverty, education is often the first casualty of economic hardship. In Punjab’s urban slums and working-class neighbourhoods, children may face a painful choice: attend school or help their families survive. Many work in workshops, markets and other workplaces, not because they lack ambition, but because household pressures leave little room for learning.
This reality exposes the limits of conventional schooling. When school timings and teaching arrangements cannot accommodate disadvantaged children, those who need education most remain excluded. Addressing the problem requires more than classrooms; it requires flexible approaches that reach children unable to attend traditional schools.
The Punjab Education Foundation’s (PEF) Ed-Tech Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) offers a promising response. Under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the Punjab Government is seeking to widen access through free schooling, digital learning and flexible educational arrangements. Using a public-private partnership model, the programme aims to bring out-of-school children back into learning and ensure poverty does not determine their prospects. Around 99 ALP schools are operational across Punjab, serving nearly 25,000 children. The government has approved another 300 schools in urban slums in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Sargodha and Rawalpindi. The programme’s key innovation is flexibility. Three daily shifts, operating between 8am and 6:30pm, allow children to attend classes around family and work responsibilities. For households dependent on a child’s contribution, this arrangement can help reconcile immediate financial pressures with education’s long-term benefits.
Access, however, is only the beginning. Children need quality instruction that prepares them for a changing world. Classrooms use multimedia resources, students receive Chromebooks and lessons introduce digital tools, including artificial intelligence. Some students have reportedly used AI tools to create video games, illustrating technology’s potential to nurture creativity, problem-solving and confidence.
The ALP’s Middle-Tech Stream combines academic learning with vocational training. Courses in graphic design, computer skills, the Internet of Things and tailoring provide practical competencies that could support employment, entrepreneurship, home-based work or online freelancing. Such training makes education more relevant to families seeking a credible route towards economic independence.
For these benefits to materialize, training must lead to real opportunities. Students need quality instruction, recognized skills, access to equipment and links with employers. The programme should also help children progress academically and, wherever possible, move away from exploitative labour. Education should accommodate difficult circumstances without allowing them to define a child’s future.
The proposed expansion brings important responsibilities. New schools must open promptly, teachers must be trained and public resources must be monitored transparently. Attendance, retention, literacy, numeracy and progression into further education or employment should be measured systematically. Success should be judged not simply by enrolment figures or devices distributed, but by how much children learn and how well they can use their skills.
By combining flexible schedules, technology and practical training, Punjab has an opportunity to make education more inclusive and economically relevant. Every child brought back into learning represents an opportunity recovered from poverty. Sustained implementation and measurable outcomes can turn this initiative into lasting progress for children, families and Pakistan.
—The writer is public policy analyst, based in Lahore.
