Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children (OOSC), with approximately 22.8 million children aged 5-16 not attending school, which accounts for 44 percent of the total population in this age range. The number of children not enrolled in schools is highest among the 5-9 age group, with an estimated 5 million children.
As the children progress beyond primary-school age, the number of OOSC doubles, with around 11.4 million adolescents aged 10-14 not receiving formal education. Significant disparities based on gender, socio-economic status, and geography exist, with Sindh having 52 percent of the poorest children (58 percent of whom are girls) out of school, and Balochistan having 78 percent of girls out of school.
The situation further worsened due to the floods of 2022, interrupting the education of more than 3.5 million children, while damaging 25,993 schools in Pakistan, out of which 2859 are in KPK and 2079 in Punjab. These damaged schools are pushing millions of children out of school further adding to the existing out of school children.
| Punjab | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
| Dera Ghazi Khan | Dera Ismail Khan |
| Rajanpur | Khyber |
| Mohmand |
17 Months (January 2023 – May 2024)
The “Bringing Children Back to School” (Girls and Out of School Children (GOAL) project is supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO). The project is built on the Flood Response Plan 2022 consolidated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and in consultations with the FCDO education team.
The project aims to help mitigate the academic losses of school-going children since the 2022 floods of Pakistan in the target districts. The specific objective of the Project is to ensure that children, especially girls, have access to education and utilise safe, protected, and conducive learning environments in 305 target schools across the target districts.
