Is girls’ education in Pakistan as triumphant as current narratives suggest?

On paper, it appears so. The Statistics and Trends Report 2023–24 on Girls’ Education, prepared by the Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE) in collaboration with the Malala Fund and the Pakistan Alliance for Girls’ Education (PAGE), presents a story of measurable progress: rising completion rates, girls outperforming boys in national assessments, and improvements in school infrastructure.

Within days of its release in Islamabad, a leading English daily devoted an editorial to applauding these gains.

And yet, statistics do more than measure reality; they frame it. Numbers can illuminate. They can also compress.

The report is worth reading, but it demands careful reading, not only for what it reveals about national progress, but for what national averages may conceal.

The primary completion rate for girls has risen from 75% to 89% over the past decade, a fourteen-percentage-point increase representing millions of additional girls finishing primary school. These gains are substantive. They deserve acknowledgement.

At the launch event, the figure of 26.2 million out-of-school children, including 13.4 million girls, was widely cited. However, the official Pakistan Education Statistics 2023–24 lists the current figure as 25.1 million children, including 12.18 million girls and 12.97 million boys. The higher figure corresponds to 2021–22 data, outdated statistics presented as current at a national launch attended by senior officials and development partners.

In a sector where numbers shape funding, reform priorities, and public perception, consistency between published data and public messaging is not a minor technicality. It is a matter of policy credibility.

At the national level, the out-of-school rate stands at 35% for both boys and girls. On the surface, this suggests gender parity within the crisis. But in a country as diverse as Pakistan,........

© The Friday Times