Why Educate Pakistan

Pakistan is a rich country, mismanaged into a poor economy. The economic outlook of any country is directly connected with its education outlook. Poverty and education are deeply connected and the key to change this unfortunate state lies in our hands. We believe that any amount of investment and development will not be sustainable if the root cause not addressed. Pakistan is a country of 180million smart people and full of natural abundance. Pakistan still has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world and the second largest out of school population (5.1 million children) after only Nigeria. We sit over natural resources of trillions of dollars while we chase petty amounts to survive. This myth of the poor economy of a rich country has to end.

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Target Classes

Our target children are from grade 5 to 12th. Families who survive financial hardships in getting their children conceded through the primary education get fatigued by this time due to their growing needs, which forces their children to work. Educated children who have passed through the basic educational filter are lost to the vicious circle of poverty. ilmDOST focuses on retaining children in the school post primary school and to keep them in educational stream till the 12th grade.

  • From a total registration of 37M students entering schools, 15M students are forced to drop school by 5 th grade due to the limited financial means of their family. Since usual 5 th graders know how to read and write their families seek their financial participation and consider them to become a bread earner for the family.
  • Another 10M students are lost before entering the secondary education due to limited financial means.
  • Lastly, additional 1.5M students are lost before finishing 12 th grade which is termed as post or higher secondary, just before entering university.
  • In total 26.5 million students drop out of school before post-secondary or 12 th grade.
     

It is an irony of fate that the more a student is educated, higher is the price Pakistan pays when they drop out of school. It is due to this very reason that ilmDOST exists.