Education
Giving every child the right to education
Challenge
Pakistan is facing a serious challenge to ensure all children, particularly the most disadvantaged, attend, stay and learn in school. While enrollment and retention rates are improving, progress has been slow to improve education indicators in Pakistan.
An estimated 25.1 million children aged 5-16 are out of school.
Currently, Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children (OOSC) with an estimated 25.1 million children aged 5-16 not attending school, representing 35 per cent of the total population in this age group. At the provincial level, Punjab accounts for the largest absolute number of out-of-school children, with 9.7 million children aged 5–16 (representing 27 per cent of the provincial age cohort) not attending school. This is followed by Sindh, where 7.4 million children, equivalent to 44 per cent of the 5–16 population are out of school. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, an estimated 4.5 million children (34 per cent) are out of school, while Balochistan faces the most severe exclusion in proportional terms, with 3.5 million children, nearly 69 per cent of the provincial school-age population are out of school. In the Islamabad Capital Territory, approximately 0.09 million children (15 per cent) are out of school.
Gender disparities further exacerbate these patterns, particularly in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the number of out-of-school girls exceeds that of boys, underscoring enduring structural and socio-cultural barriers to girls’ education.
These challenges are compounded by chronically low and declining public investment in education. Pakistan has historically allocated around 1.5 per cent of GDP to education, already well below the UNESCO and SDG-4 benchmark of 4–6 per cent. The situation has worsened further, with the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024–25 reporting education spending at approximately 0.8 per cent of GDP, a record low that falls far short of national policy goals and international commitments.
Nearly 90 per cent of education expenditure is absorbed by recurrent costs, mainly teacher salaries, leaving limited fiscal space for infrastructure, teacher development, learning materials, and system strengthening. This imbalance restricts progress on access, learning outcomes, and equity, particularly for marginalised groups and adolescent girls. Without increased and more strategic education financing, Pakistan will continue to struggle to address the out-of-school children crisis and broader learning challenges.
Solution
In order to accelerate progress and ensure the equitable expansion of quality education, UNICEF supports the Government of Pakistan’s efforts to significantly reduce the number of OOSC at pre-primary, primary and lower secondary levels. Our education programme is focusing on Early Childhood Education (ECE) to improve school readiness; expansion of equitable and quality alternative learning pathways (ALP) at basic education levels; and nurturing of school-community linkages to increase on-time enrolment, reduce drop-outs, and ensure completion and transition for all students. At systems levels, we are contributing to more equity-focused provincial sector planning and budgeting; strengthening data and assessment systems; and evidence-based policy advocacy.
Early Childhood Education (ECE)
Investment in quality early learning/pre-primary education so that young children are ‘ready for school’ has high positive impacts on primary school enrolment, survival and learning, and is cost-effective.
The benefits of ECE are highest for children from poor and vulnerable households.
Given the limited reach and inequities in the provision of pre-primary education, Pakistan is increasingly recognizing early learning as a policy priority, and several provinces have already developed ECCE policies, plans, and standards.
Alternative Learning Pathways (ALP)
While several models exist for ALPs, these are still scattered and limited in scale. UNICEF is addressing the issue of OOSC through studies, supporting provincial sector plan development, development or review of non-formal education policy and direct programme implementation. This wealth of experience now provides the evidence, know-how, and momentum for UNICEF to support federal and provincial governments in broadening ALPs within education systems to bring OOSC into primary education, with a specific focus on adolescent girls.
School-Community Linkages
Socio-cultural demand-side barriers combined with economic factors together drive education deprivation for certain groups of children in Pakistan, particularly girls. These barriers are further exacerbated by a lack of parental awareness of early learning, importance of on-time enrolment, and lack of social protection schemes. UNICEF is therefore focusing more closely on the obstacles to on-time enrolment, retention, completion and transition.
Equity in Education
Equity-based investments by government continue to be the key way to ensure education systems include the most disadvantaged girls and boys. Considering insufficient and ineffective allocation of budgets, UNICEF strategically engages in sector planning, to capitalise on opportunities to influence decision-making on equity issues.
UNICEF’s growing technical capacity and focus on assessment of learning, and international expertise also provides an opportunity to add value to Pakistan’s efforts to improve assessment systems. System reforms help in improving accountability and evidence-based decision making. UNICEF supports healthy dialogue on education budgeting and public financing, to highlight areas of improvement for better planning and improvement in the education sector.
Resources
Early Childhood Education
Stories
Videos
Reports and Data
Review of Alternative Learning Programmes in Pakistan 2014-15
Pakistan OOSC Study. UNICEF, 2013