‘Education foundations working on plan for out-of-school children’

The secretary of the Sindh Education and Literacy Department (SELD), Zahid Abbasi, commended in his address at the 1st National Conference of Provincial Education Foundations in Pakistan the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) for its historic achievement in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

He emphasized that this milestone is a collective success for all educational foundations in Pakistan. Abbasi highlighted the importance of sharing knowledge and success stories among provinces, noting that such collaboration can significantly amplify impact, said a statement on Friday.

He mentioned that following the 18th Amendment, there has been no formal forum or coordination mechanism among the provinces. He proposed that similar conferences should be organized biannually, as Pakistan is facing an education emergency and requires accelerated development efforts.

Abbasi further encouraged resource-sharing among the provinces and praised the participants as pioneers of the 1st National Conference. He stressed that the common challenges faced by the provinces can be effectively addressed through joint strategies, as working in isolation is not sufficient to overcome these issues.

The conference was attended by representatives from the Elementary and Secondary Education Foundation (ESEF)-KP, Punjab Education Foundation (PEF), Merged Areas Education Foundation (MaEF), Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF), National Education Foundation (NEF) and the minister education of Gilgit Baltistan.

Abid Gill, a representative of JICA, stated that foundations working together can significantly impact addressing the needs of out-of-school Children (OOSC) in Pakistan. Citing data, he mentioned that 25.37 million children aged 5-16 are out of school, with 20.03 million having never attended school and 5.34 million having dropped out. He emphasized the importance of addressing these figures in policy planning.

He further noted that if teachers are not paid for an extended period, expecting improvements in educational access and quality is unrealistic. Strategies must be grounded in reality. Additionally, he highlighted that while children often move from primary to higher school, there is a significant drop in middle school enrollment. Collaborative efforts by foundations can help bridge this gap.

“If your literacy rate is high, your health environment will improve as well. Many people think education is limited to formal schooling, but it encompasses much more. Non-formal education, digital learning, distance education, and other elements are also part of the educational ecosystem. By making our education system more flexible, we can bring more children into the fold of learning,” Abid Gill said.

Muhammad Adam, the Country Manager at CRS, stated, “Together, we will finalize the action plan. These efforts represent the collective work of all foundations involved. This action plan will be presented to stakeholders and policymakers to pave the way forward for addressing the issue of out-of-school children (OOSC).”

Abdul Kabir Kazi, Managing Director of SEF, concluded the conference with his closing remarks: “We have been working on this for the past two years, and it has finally come to fruition. This achievement would not have been possible without the support of JICA and CRS. Next month, we will consolidate our efforts with the foundations, and this is just the beginning.”