Peshawar — More than 15,000 children have been forced out of the classroom following the abrupt termination of the Alternate Learning Path (ALP) project, a five-year initiative designed to integrate children from the former tribal areas into the formal school system.
The collapse of the program—compounded by what insiders describe as “unnecessary delays” and “bureaucratic tactics” within the Elementary and Secondary Education Department—threatens to exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis. Estimates suggests that nearly 4.9 million children are already out of school across the province; this latest failure adds a fresh layer of despair for families in the border regions.
A System in Stasis
For five years, the ALP centers acted as a lifeline, providing a condensed curriculum for children who had missed early schooling due to conflict and displacement. However, despite the project’s conclusion, a successor plan remains trapped in administrative limbo.
The Merged Area Education Foundation (MAEF) submitted a formal proposal (PC-1) six months ago to establish new ALP centers and Community Feeder Schools. This plan was intended to catch the 15,000 students currently left stranded. Yet, half a year later, the project sits unsigned, buried under a mountain of departmental objections.
“Tactics of Delay”
Observers in Peshawar note that the project was supposed to be integrated into the Annual Development Programme (ADP). Instead, it has faced five months of stagnation. Sources close to the matter suggest that the Elementary and Secondary Education Department’s hesitation is not merely fiscal, but a symptom of a systemic “wait-and-watch” culture that prioritizes red tape over the right to learn.
“These are children who have spent five years studying in project-led schools,” said one education advocate. “To pull the rug out from under them now is to tell an entire generation that their progress doesn’t matter.”
The Human Cost
The districts, once part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), have long struggled with the highest rates of out-of-school children in KP merged districts. For many of these 15,000 students, these centers were the only viable alternative to child labor or early marriage.
While the government continues to debate the technicalities of the MAEF’s proposal, the school gates remain locked. Without immediate intervention to bypass the current administrative gridlock, the hard-won gains in literacy within the merged districts risk being permanently erased.
