Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan], May 6 : A recent report released by Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Education Department has revealed that over five million children across the province are currently out of school, highlighting a significant educational crisis in the region.
Local media outlet Geo News reported on Tuesday that the announcement painted a concerning picture, indicating 37 percent of children in KP are deprived of education and that 4.92 million boys and girls across the province are currently restrained from formal education. The problem was most critical in Kolai-Palas Kohistan, where 80,333 children are out of school.
As per the newly released data, the neighbouring districts of Lower and Upper Kohistan also documented high rates, with 79% of children not enrolled in any educational institution.
Geo News also reported that Upper Chitral emerged as the province's best-performing district, with only 10% of children out of school.
Meanwhile, there is a significant gender disparity in educational access, as seen by the more than 500,000 out-of-school children in Peshawar, the provincial capital, including 319,000 girls.
Speaking on the issue, KP Education Minister Faisal Tarakai acknowledged the severity of the crisis, saying that over 4.8 million children are currently out of the education system, Geo News reported.
However, he stated that the government is actively working to reverse the trend. "1.3 million children were enrolled in schools last year," Tarakai said, adding that the target for this year is to enrol one million more, Geo News reported.
He reaffirmed the government's commitment to expanding access and addressing disparities in school enrolment across the province.
As per the local media, the KP report comes against the backdrop of a worsening national education crisis.
The Pakistan Education Statistics Report 2021-22, released by the Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE), revealed in January that 26.2 million children were out of school across the country.
This figure represented 39% of Pakistan's school-age children, despite a drop in the national out-of-school percentage from 44% in 2016-17 to 39% in 2021-22.
Despite the fact that the national out-of-school proportion decreased from 44% in 2016-17 to 39% in 2021-22, this number still accounted for 39% of Pakistan's school-age children.
However, because of the fast population expansion, the total number of OOSC has increased, rising from 22.02 million to 26.21 million in the same time frame.
With 65% of children not attending school, Balochistan continues to be the most afflicted, while the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) has the lowest percentage.
According to the most recent province data, KP's rate is currently 37%, up from the prior estimate of 30% for the national average.
The survey also notes that 10.77 million children nationwide are not attending school at the elementary level alone.
One significant contributing factor is economic inequality, which disproportionately affects children from the lowest-income families. Remarkably, 44% of high school students and 60% of upper secondary students are still not enrolled in school.