But how ‘educated’ is Punjab’s non-formal learning system ?
Punjab’s non-formal education (NFE) sector serves as a beacon of hope for hundreds of thousands of out-of-school children, offering a rare second chance at education and literacy in communities where proper formal schooling remains a distant dream for the young of the nation.
Punjab’s Non-Formal Basic Education (NFBE) Department, set up in 2002, is the only separate facility for non-formal education. In Sindh, non-formal education falls under the Ministry of School Education and Literacy; in Balochistan, it is controlled by the Ministry of Social Welfare; while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), it is overseen by the Education Ministry. Federally, the programme is managed by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.
The Punjab Literacy and Non-Formal Education Policy (PLNFEP) 2019 marks the first-ever policy for Punjab launched during the Buzdar government since the establishment of the Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education Department in 2002. This policy provided a comprehensive framework for this sector to eradicate illiteracy and improve access to education for all.
The NFBE programme was first introduced in Pakistan during the 1950s under the name “Adult Basic Education Programme,” while several non-formal education initiatives have been launched since then. Eventually, NFBE schools were initially established in 1996 under the Prime Minister’s Literacy Commission.
Dr Khurram Shahzad, Director General (DG) of Literacy & Non-Formal Basic Education (L&NFBED), Punjab, says that currently, of a total of 25.3 million out-of-school children in Pakistan, 9.6 million are in Punjab alone. These include children who have never been to school or dropped out at some point. The department’s basic mandate is to provide primary education to children aged 5-16 years who are not enrolled in formal schools.
The non-formal system focuses on reaching the poorest children in the community. The department identifies teachers willing to open schools either in their homes or in the space provided by the community.
According to the Dr Khurram, the minimum qualification required for teachers in the non-formal sector is intermediate, but many of the teachers in these schools hold bachelor’s or master’s degrees as well. These schools require minimal infrastructure, and the department provides them with a literacy kit consisting of a chair and table for the teacher, a blackboard or whiteboard, and mats for students to sit on.
“Unlike formal schools, the non-formal schools are often single-room setups. While it typically takes six years for students in formal schools to complete primary education, students in non-formal schools complete the same education in four years due to the accelerated nature of the programme. Textbooks are free for the children, and teachers don’t charge any fee under the non-formal setup.”
“The curriculum used in both the formal and non-formal sectors is the same and follows the Single National Curriculum approved by the PTB (Punjab Textbook Board). However, it is different for ALSs (Accelerated Learning Schools), but is also PTB-approved,” stated Khurram.
Initiatives and innovations
The NFE department has also launched the ALS initiative to further expedite the education process, which started two years ago. This programme is active in five districts of Punjab: Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, and Dera Ghazi Khan. A total of 1,000 ALS schools have been established in these districts, with an enrollment of 40,000 students. The ALS programme compresses the primary education timeline from two and a half to four years. This accelerated approach is intended to address the challenge of educating 9.6 million out-of-school children in a shorter period, allowing them to transition into formal education. This model follows best international practices in accelerated learning programs, and a 9-year-old child entering an ALS is expected to complete primary education in 2.5 years and then enrol in middle school at the age of 11 or 12.
The NFE department has developed a Management Information System (MIS) to track all schools, teachers, and students. The system records the location of schools, details of teachers and their qualifications, students’ registration, including their parents’ CNICs and B-Forms, monitoring records of the centres, learning achievements, etc.
Nationwide, there are 35,000 non-formal schools, employing 33,884 teachers and catering to 1,124,328 learners. Punjab contributes significantly to this figure, hosting 20,500 NFE centres with 20,529 teachers, 85% of whom are females, serving 667,599 learners. Among the learners, 313,662 are men, while 353,937 are women. As many as 18,476 of these NFBE centres are located in rural areas.
Among all districts in Punjab, Rahim Yar Khan has the highest number of functional non-formal schools, with 1,122 schools currently operating.
Teachers in these non-formal schools are paid a monthly salary of Rs12,500. Each district has district literacy officers, literacy mobilisers, and monitors responsible for overseeing the NFE system. Monitoring is conducted through an online app called the Literacy Assessment Drive (LAD), which also includes midterm and final exams based on the guidelines of the Punjab Examination Commission (PEC). Additionally, every district has two district trainers responsible for providing regular training to both new and existing teachers.
Challenges faced by NFE system
Last September, NFE schools came into the public eye when five young students were reportedly sexually assaulted at one of the centres by a canteen man.
We questioned the DG L&NFBED regarding the safety of children attending these schools, he replied that bad people were everywhere, and it was hard to predict when and where such horrible acts might take place, “But now we have planned community awareness for this and training for teachers, etc, and with an effective monitoring mechanism, hopefully, such incidents could be prevented.”
He said that they considered their model safest because the non-formal schools were opened with the consultation of locals and the community takes responsibility. “Also, since most of the teachers are female they are also concerned about these issues,” he added.
Since its establishment in 2002, the NFE department has provided primary education to 4.6 million children. In addition, literacy centres have been set up to provide education to illiterate adults.
“In 2019, we had 13,000 non-formal schools, and our enrollment was 500,000, whereas, in 2024, we have 20,500 NF schools with 675,000 enrollments,” De Khurram said.
Dr Ayesha Razzaque, an educationist, believes that the programme chips away at 5.5% of out-of-school children in Punjab. However, she thinks that the number of children reached is not enough of a criterion to measure the impact of the programme.
According to her, the qualitative impact can only be determined after tracking prospects once the children pass out, but at the moment, no such data is available.
According to Dr Khurram, one of the biggest challenges facing the department is the rapidly growing population, which makes it difficult to bring 9.6 million out-of-school children into the education system. To address this, the department is working on various strategies, including expanding digital literacy programmes to educate adults, which will also contribute to reducing illiteracy rates.
Future directions and partnerships
The programme is actively collaborating with international organisations such as the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), UNICEF, and the World Bank and is also currently engaged with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
With GPE & UNICEF’s cooperation, the TALEEM programme, with $1.2 million in funding, is being pursued. As many as 1,000 ALP NFE schools have been opened with 40,000 enrollments under this project. Another programme, the Advancing Quality Alternative Learning (AQAL), is being implemented with JICA, where they provide technical assistance.
The department is committed to establishing 1,200 adult literacy centers over the next two years to provide education to the illiterate. The department also plans to establish 550 elementary schools, called “Middle Tech schools,” where children will complete middle education in 1.5 years instead of the standard three years. These schools will also offer skills training.
Dr Razzaque pointed out: “There are ongoing conversations and mentions of middle- and matric-tech streams (for now at a pilot stage and a donor-driven initiative) with flashy titles such as media production, applied electrician, internet, etc, but with no evidence of budgets, student numbers, or developed curricula for these programmes.
“I am skeptical about pushing out-of-school children who lack the conditions to acquire basic literacy to learn these skills. There is a reason vocational education streams the world over usually begin after around ten years of schooling,” she added.
For her, the NFE is a very broad thing, and there are many details and factors that need to be considered when determining solutions, as there are many different types of out-of-school children. Interventions have to be tailored for these groups for them to be effective.
In terms of numbers and optics the non-formal system seems to have made leaps and bounds in reaching out to and engaging out-of-school children, who otherwise had a little chance of becoming literate.
This innovative approach is not only providing these children access to basic education, but is also making efforts to reintegrating them into formal schooling.
However, uneducated complacency, merely over big enrolment statistics is not advisable. Systemic challenges such as monitoring, safety, and the lack of data tracking student outcomes post-graduation ae critical in this case.
This programme has the potential to make a huge difference, but its true success will only be measured by how effectively it meets the diverse needs of out-of-school children and their communities.