The federal education ministry has launched a focused three-month campaign to enroll 25,000 out of school children in Islamabad as part of a broader three-year rolling plan to integrate all out of school children into the formal education system.
The initiative will see new community schools set up near identified hotspots where large concentrations of out of school children live, while field teams carry out targeted outreach to ensure children can access learning close to home.
Federal Secretary for Education and Professional Training Nadeem Mahbub said the drive follows the recently announced No Child Left Behind campaign by Federal Minister for Education Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and reflects a coordinated push across federal and community stakeholders to address educational gaps.
Teams from the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) and the National Education Foundation (NEF) have been mobilized across the capital to implement a carpet coverage plan at the union council level. Under this approach, door-to-door surveys will identify out of school children and facilitate immediate enrollment.
To broaden outreach, university students have been engaged as volunteers to locate and enroll children in their localities, while international NGOs and local civil society groups are partnering with the ministry to support grassroots registration and follow-up. The creation of community schools aims to address specific learning needs and reduce travel barriers for families.
The ministry has committed to weekly progress reviews to monitor results and ensure strict adherence to the three-month timeline. Officials say the target of enrolling 25,000 children demonstrates a renewed commitment to the right to education and a clear push to bring out of school children back into classrooms across Islamabad.
