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PESHAWAR, Oct 16 (APP):As the morning sun rises over the dusty plains of Pabbi in Nowshera, 13-year-old Hussain Khan tightens his grip on a worn-out shovel.
His hands, calloused and far too small for the labor he performs, are not turning pages in a textbook; they are digging ditches to help repay the loan his father left behind when he passed away due to pancreatic cancer.
“I wanted to be a teacher,” Hussain says with a shy smile. “But I had to leave school when my father died. There was no one else to help my mother to return the huge loans obtained for his long treatment.”
Hussain is one of the 4.7 million children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) who are currently out of school, a staggering number that poses one of the most urgent and complex challenges for the newly elected Chief Minister, Sohail Afridi.
According to the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) report, the problem is particularly acute in merged tribal districts, where poverty, cultural barriers, and a lack of infrastructure have converged to create education challenges.
The report said that 74.4% of girls and 38.5% of boys in KP are out of school, with districts like Upper Kohistan, North Waziristan, and Bajaur among the worst affected.
“Education is the backbone of any progressive society,” says Dr. Muammad Naeem, an economic expert from the University of Peshawar.
“And yet, millions of children are being denied their constitutional right of free education till 10th grade due to poverty, social constraints, and a lack of government infrastructure.”
In many households across KP especially in remote areas like Kolai Palas, Tank, and South Waziristan children are being pulled from classrooms to work in fields, brick kilns, or roadside shops.
For many poor parents, the choice is heartbreaking but simple put food on the table or send a child to school.
In the absence of functional classrooms, toilets, or even drinking water, besides a lack of teaching staff, education becomes a distant dream. For girls, the hurdles are even steeper in many tribal areas; social norms discourage female education, sometimes to the point of danger.
The new CM inherits not just the challenges of illiteracy, but a ticking time bomb. With long-term consequences for the province’s economic growth, social stability, and security, experts warn that ignoring the issue could deepen existing inequalities and fuel future unrest.
In response, the KP Education Department has announced a slew of initiatives, such as 1,053 schools now operating double shifts, catering to over 70,000 students. This year alone, 830,000 children have been enrolled, including 315,000 girls.
The education budget has increased to Rs 364 billion, with Rs 19 billion allocated for new development projects, he said, adding 41 new primary and 12 new secondary schools are in the pipeline, along with 500 new classrooms.
Over 16,500 teachers are being recruited, and 30,000 are undergoing training, he said, adding a digital attendance system, smart classrooms, and an Education Card offering access to scholarships and supplies are among the tech-based reforms aimed at increasing transparency and engagement.
In merged tribal districts, where the scars of problems still linger, the KP government has earmarked Rs 1.5 billion for 50 new schools, along with millions for washrooms, boundary walls, and model campuses.
“We have seen announcements before about education reforms and bringing out of schools children besides abolishing double standards of education,” says Sumbal Bibi, a mother of five in Nowshera district. “But what we need are qualfied teachers who show up, classrooms that don’t leak in the rain, boundary walls for security of children and toilets for our daughters.”
In a bid to leave no child behind, the CM Sohail Afridi government needs to focus on non-formal schooling programs and community-led education centers to bring out of schools children under education net.
KP Education authorities said that over 3,500 girls’ community schools are now operating under the Elementary and Secondary Education Foundation (ESEF), and 14,000 students are enrolled in the Poha digital learning scheme.
Yet for children like Hussain Khan, these programs remain out of reach of many poor students in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“No one came to ask why I left school,” Hussain says with sobbing eyes. “I want to study, but we have debts. I cannot be a burden to my family.”
The question now is whether the newly elected Chief Minister Sohail Afridi will convert the uniform education policy into practice and promises into protection for KP’s most vulnerable children.
The tools are there and he urgency is clear. But the test lies in consistent and community-centred implementation. Education may be a right, but in today’s KP, it remains a privilege, and for millions of children still out of school, every passing day is a silent reminder of what’s being lost not just in classrooms, but in futures.