Over 200,000 children benefit from UK-backed education initiatives in Punjab, K-P: BHC

The British High Commission (BHC) reported that over 200,000 children in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) provinces have benefited from UK-backed education initiatives, improving their access to schooling, reading, numeracy, and life skills. Key improvements included an increase in Urdu reading levels from 15% to 78%, English reading from 15% to 45%, and subtraction skills from 37% to 67%.

The program, implemented through learning-level assessments, targeted instruction, teacher coaching, and regular progress tracking, reached more than 500 public schools and enabled the return of over 35,000 out-of-school children to education. It also supported 48,000 learners through remedial education, trained over 5,500 educators and 250 Master Trainers, and improved facilities in 400 schools.

British High Commissioner Jane Marriott emphasized that teachers were crucial in improving learning outcomes and that the most significant measure of success was whether teachers found these approaches valuable enough to continue using them. Punjab Education Curriculum Training and Assessment Authority (PECTAA) CEO Muhammad Musa Ali Bokhari highlighted the importance of education for children, stating that every child in Punjab deserved the chance to read, write, and count with confidence before moving beyond primary school.

K-P's Special Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education Masood Ahmed noted that the achievements demonstrated the positive impact of focused investments in foundational learning, and the provincial government was committed to building on this progress to ensure every child has the opportunity to develop essential literacy and numeracy skills for lifelong learning.