26 Million Out-of-School Children: Causes, Consequences and Roadmap for the Future

Pakistan is facing a critical education crisis, as over 26.3 million children are currently out of school. This talk aims to bring together a group of passionate citizens who will collectively explore the scale and urgency of this issue. We will point out the barriers that prevent children from accessing education, including poverty, gender inequality, infrastructure gaps, and displacement due to climate and conflict.

However, this session hopes to inspire and spark debates on how to turn this around. The discussion will spotlight promising initiatives and success stories from across the country, highlighting how government programs, civil society efforts, and community-led interventions are working to bring children back into classrooms. As part of the session, we will open the floor to audience perspectives, inviting ideas, reflections, and solutions to help shape a more inclusive and resilient education system for Pakistan’s future.

Join us for a thought-provoking conversation on one of the most pressing challenges as we work towards ensuring every child has access to quality education.

Speakers:

• Nawal Khurram is an education activist who has worked previously with the Education Department at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations in New York. She is also a board member of a nonprofit school in Islamabad serving over 500 underprivileged children. Nawal is deeply committed to expanding access to quality education for out-of-school and underprivileged children in Pakistan. She is currently building an EdTech-driven initiative with Taleemabad to help bring quality learning directly to underserved communities.
• Faaiz Gilani is an urban economist working at the intersection of climate and development policy at Oxford Policy Management. He is a University College London (UCL) and LUMS alumnus. Faaiz is the co-founder of a community-based platform called HamSukhan and is passionate about policy-related issues. You can find his articles relating to the political economy on The News and Tribune.

This session is free and open to all. Just visit the venue to attend it.

The Black Hole
Plot 5H, Street 100, G-11/3, Islamabad.
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