KAMRAN Khan was a brilliant, hardworking and ambitious student. Each morning, I would see him riding a crowded bus to school. Though not privileged, he had the potential to brighten the future of a nation. His journey was cut short by life’s inequities. At age thirty, Kamran died, his bright mind stifled by lack of education. His story echoes that of countless gifted Pakistani children, deprived of opportunity by class.

Every morning, millions of Pakistani children face an unequal reality. Some attend elite schools with digital classrooms and international syllabi, while others study from tattered books under leaking roofs. According to UNICEF, Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children—nearly 23 million. Financial barriers and poor infrastructure force over half of enrolled students to drop out before completing school. Despite Article 25-A guaranteeing free and compulsory education for all, the constitutional promise remains unfulfilled.

This class-based educational divide strikes at the heart of democracy. Equality lies at democracy’s core, yet our classrooms remain divided by wealth. Children of the elite are prepared to lead, while those from working-class families struggle merely to survive. This system sustains inequality—empowering the privileged and trapping the poor. Though recent policy drafts, including the Education Policy 2025, stress equitable access, the gap between policy and practice remains wide.

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© Pakistan Observer