Balochistan’s Education Minister, Rahila Hameed Khan Durrani, has raised alarm over the province’s high number of out-of-school children and the absence of reliable education data, warning that both issues are obstructing efforts to curb the student dropout crisis.
Speaking at a policy roundtable organized by the Data and Research in Education-Research Consortium (DARE-RC), Durrani stressed that strengthening policymakers’ analytical capacity is vital for long-term reform. She reaffirmed her ministry’s resolve to reduce dropout rates, especially among young girls, by adopting new evidence-based tools. “I am grateful to DARE-RC for approaching us, and we hope that their work will help us to achieve this,” she said.
The event brought together government officials, academics, and development partners to explore how data-driven insights could be integrated into Balochistan’s education policies. A recurring theme was the urgent need to foster a culture of data use within the education sector to expand access and improve learning quality.
Salim Salamah, education policy adviser at the British High Commission, underscored the importance of bridging research and reform, praising the contributions of local academics and committed policymakers.
Balochistan’s School Education Secretary, Asfandyar Khan Kakar, acknowledged that research has rarely been prioritized in the public sector. “This gap between academia and government needs to be bridged with the help of such dialogues,” he said, urging greater involvement of local resources in shaping reforms.
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The DARE-RC, a partnership between Oxford Policy Management, Aga Khan University, and Sightsavers, funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), aims to make academic research more actionable for policymakers. Program director Saima Anwer explained, “The spirit of DARE-RC is how to bridge the gap between research and policymaking so that the research being carried out in universities is relevant to the realms of the government.”