The Sindh government, in collaboration with UNICEF, has decided to develop a five-year multi-sectoral roadmap aimed at addressing the education needs of out-of-school children and adolescents. Under this initiative, a strategy will be formulated to identify and eliminate all barriers hindering access to education. A key meeting regarding the development of this roadmap was held in Karachi, chaired by Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah, and attended by UNICEF representatives. The meeting included participation from Sindh School Education Secretary Zahid Ali Abbasi, Chief Program Manager Dr. Junaid Samo, and others, along with UNICEFR17;s Chief Field Officer Prem Bahadur Chand, Education Manager Abeer Maqbool, and Education Specialist Asif Abrar.
The roadmap is expected to help bring a greater number of children into the school system in the coming years. On this occasion, the provincial education minister acknowledged that children face several challenges in accessing and continuing education. He stated that all such barriers would be removed to pave a clear path for children to attend school based on their convenience. Highlighting a crucial point, Syed Sardar Ali Shah emphasized the importance of birth registration along with awareness of a child’s other essential needs from birth. The meeting was informed that the roadmap would cover sectors such as birth registration, health, public health, social protection, climate change, and more.
It was revealed that children currently face various social and behavioral challenges in relation to education – including economic hardships, conflict-related issues, environmental changes affecting school conditions, administrative and political problems, generation gaps between children and elders, and related interpersonal dynamics. These challenges are expected to worsen in the coming years, necessitating a comprehensive multi-sectoral response. The meeting also disclosed alarming statistics: 46% of children in Sindh face obstacles in continuing their education. 25% of girls are married before the age of 18. 38% of children aged 10-19 are engaged in labor due to financial pressure. 50% of children suffer from malnutrition. 66% of newborns are not registered at birth. 47.5% of children live in poverty, with 71% of them residing in rural areas. 45% of children lack access to basic infrastructure like toilets, clean drinking water, and safety. 79% of children do not have access to vocational training.
Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah stressed the need to develop a strategy that takes all these factors into account in order to create a conducive environment for future generations to pursue education. The meeting also reached an agreement on creating a comprehensive database to support early childhood, primary, and elementary education.
