Pakistan will take special measures to address the issue of out-of-school children and maximise the enrollment of school-age children across the country, according to the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives. Further, the ministry said, with an estimated 22.8 million children aged five to 16 years out of school, Pakistan is among the countries with the highest numbers of out-of-school children in the world, as stated in a report by Xinhua news agency. 
 

In the five to nine age group, five million children are not enrolled in schools and 11.4 million adolescents between the ages of 10-14 are currently not receiving formal education. The ministry said that Pakistan has made considerable progress in providing access to education to its school-age population over the years, but the pace of improvement has been slow compared to other developing countries, highlighting that federal and provincial governments have decided to develop a national action plan to address the issue, as stated in a report by IANS. 
 

Measures to be taken

A Universal Enrollment Pilot Project will be launched in the capital to ensure that there are no out-of-school children, the ministry statement said, adding that the project may be replicated to produce similar results in other areas across the country.
 

Additionally, a national out-of-school children fund will be created to provide performance-based cash grants to provincial governments for improving education outcomes in the most affected districts. Moreover, to reduce dropout rates, the government will launch a comprehensive virtual schooling system.
 

Besides economic factors, gaps in service provision at all education levels and socio-cultural barriers also contribute to children dropping out of schools in Pakistan, as stated in a report by IANS.