Islamabad, July 11, 2025: Pakistan is struggling with a serious education crisis, with around 25.37 million children aged 5–16 currently out-of-school (OOSC). This was disclosed in a report titled “Pakistan’s Non-Formal Education Report 2023–24,” released at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU).
“This number [of OOSC] has risen alarmingly, influenced by the impacts of COVID-19 and recent floods. Recent years have witnessed significant developments in the NFE sector,” stated the report.
The Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE) in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) compiled the report.
The Report suggested expanding the scope of Accelerated Learning Programs (ALP). It further recommended keeping a special focus on expanding ALP (Middle-Tech) initiatives, owing to their high retention ratio (70pc) and their ability to offer both educational and technical training.
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It further suggested reinforcing youth and adult literacy efforts and bridging regional gaps. The report also stressed the need to improve data gathering and its effective use.
“Continuously improve the quality and timeliness of data collection and utilise data effectively to inform policy decisions and programme improvements,” the report stated.
READ MORE: Millions of KP Children Still Out of School, Report Warns
In its findings, the report also highlighted that 35,427 NFE centres are catering to 1,290,009 learners, marking a noticeable 20pc jump in enrolment compared to the last year.
To counter this, it emphasized Non-Formal Education (NFE) can play a crucial role as an alternative, offering flexible and reachable learning options for out of school children.
