ACCORDING to a government report, 24m students are stilloutofschoolsinPakistan.

The situation in Balochistan is the worst, as 70pc students are out of schools. the next is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where it stands at 36pc students.

The figures show the number of out of schools children (OSC) has declined from 25.02m in 2013 to 24.02m in 2014-15. Right now Pakistan has the second highest number of OSC after Nigeria.

According to an estimate, OSC decreased from 25 to 24 million. The report further confirms that most of the OSC belong to Balochistan. Now 1,847,086 OSC (70pc) are from Balochistan, followed by 6,663,361 (56pc) in Sindh. Punjab has 44pc (11,415,282) and KP has the lowest 36pc, that is 2,454,086 OSC.

Likewise, Fata, with 60pc and Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan 50pc each have 631,246 and 229,773 OSC.

The enrolment at primary level was 72pc which dropped to 47pc at the middle school level and 31pc at the high school level. Yet nine per cent of the schools are without buildings and 18pc of them only had a single classroom. Besides, 29pc of government schools are operating with a single teacher.

In Punjab, 44pc schools are without electricity, 34pc don`t have drinkable water, 30pc lack boundary walls and 28pc don`t have bathroom facilities.

Pakistan is behind even regional countries in education.

AgilPeerjan Turbat