FOR a child growing up in poverty, education is often the first casualty of economic hardship. In Punjab’s urban slums and working-class neighbourhoods, children may face a painful choice: attend school or help their families survive. Many work in workshops, markets and other workplaces, not because they lack ambition, but because household pressures leave little room for learning.

This reality exposes the limits of conventional schooling. When school timings and teaching arrangements cannot accommodate disadvantaged children, those who need education most remain excluded. Addressing the problem requires more than classrooms; it requires flexible approaches that reach children unable to attend traditional schools.

The Punjab Education Foundation’s (PEF) Ed-Tech Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) offers a promising response. Under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the Punjab Government is seeking to widen access through free........

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