SEF Hosts National Conference to Address Out-of-School Children Crisis

Pakistan is currently grappling with a major challenge, as approximately 26.21 million children are out of school. To address this crisis, the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) organized a two-day National Conference for Education Foundations in Karachi, in partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The conference aimed to promote collaboration and knowledge-sharing among education foundations across Pakistan. Participants discussed the key challenges within the education sector, shared best practices, and explored innovative strategies to enhance their support for education.

A “Foundations’ Action Plan” was developed to create synergy among the education foundations, aimed at amplifying their collective impact and facilitating mutual learning, particularly in addressing the needs of out-of-school children.

In his opening remarks, SEF Managing Director Abdul Kabir Kazi highlighted the importance of collaboration in educating every child. He acknowledged the ongoing efforts to retain out-of-school children and emphasized that the primary goal of the conference was to develop an action plan to address the education emergency declared by the prime minister, as urged by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

Abid Gill provided an overview of JICA’s efforts to address the out-of-school children crisis in Pakistan, noting that JICA’s AQAL project has developed Alternative Learning Pathways (ALPs) for primary and middle levels, as well as literacy and skill programs for youth and adults. He noted that these learning models are effectively contributing to the strengthening of the educational ecosystem in the country.

Chairman of the Planning and Development Department, Najam Shah, praised the conference organizers for establishing a consortium of education foundations to tackle the educational emergency in Pakistan.

The conference featured contributions from representatives of various educational foundations, including 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 SEF. They presented existing educational models designed to include, retain, and educate out-of-school children while acknowledging challenges such as budget constraints, geographical dynamics, and political instability.

Interactive discussions with panelists further enriched the conference, addressing issues such as teacher retention, resource allocation, school infrastructure, poverty, lack of coordination between partners and foundations, and shortages of educational resources.

Ghulam Shehzad Agha, Minister for Education in Gilgit-Baltistan, praised SEF for inspiring regional foundations to work toward a common goal, and expressed his intention to establish an education foundation in GB based on the SEF model.

Renowned economist and educationist Kaiser Bengali emphasized that while parents are keen to send their children to school, communities often fail to push for access to education through their elected representatives. He cited the example of Karachi’s Orangi Town, where high literacy rates are a result of community ownership of the issue. He criticized the state’s failure to provide education, attributing it to factors like the politicization of teacher recruitment, and suggested that teachers should not be engaged in election duties.

Related: Sindh Unveils Plan to Educate 2 Million Out-of-School Children