A coordinated CSR enrollment drive in Islamabad has placed more than 4,000 out-of-school children into private schools free of charge, giving new momentum to the No Child Left Behind campaign and reinforcing the Federal Ministry of Education’s push for universal access.
The progress was reviewed at a meeting chaired by Chairman PEIRA, Dr. Ghulam Ali Mallah, attended by DG-NCHD Mr. Ali Asghar, representatives of JICA including Mr. Bilal Aziz, and senior PEIRA officials at PEIRA Headquarters. Participants credited the Federal Secretary Education for driving coordination among stakeholders and fast-tracking enrollment efforts.
DG-NCHD briefed the meeting on a comprehensive household survey that reached nearly 80,000 households in rural union councils of Islamabad and identified more than 24,000 children aged 5–16 years who were out of school. These children have been referred to the Federal Directorate of Education and PEIRA for placement in the nearest accessible institutions.
PEIRA has engaged more than 100 private schools, which have enrolled over 4,000 children free of cost as part of their social responsibility. Dr. Mallah praised the private sector for treating the initiative as a national mission and committed PEIRA teams to work with school owners and management to accommodate as many children as possible.
Officials directed teams to simplify enrollment procedures, monitor retention and provide support to ensure that newly enrolled children remain in school. Enrolled students will receive free textbooks, stationery and learning materials to support their continued education. The use of the National Formal and Non-Formal Education Management Information System (NFEMIS), managed by PIE with technical support from JICA, is ensuring transparency and real-time monitoring of the CSR enrollment campaign.
Campaign partners including NCHD, BECS, NEF, FDE, PIE, JICA and several INGOs were acknowledged for complementing government efforts. The meeting concluded with a collective commitment to scale the initiative and achieve the target of enrolling 25,000 out-of-school children in Islamabad by the end of June 2026, underscoring a shared resolve that no child should be left behind.
