About

No country can thrive in the modern world without educating its children.

But Pakistan faces an education emergency that has disastrous social and economic consequences, and threatens the security of the country.

We believe it is now time to end this emergency.

Under the 18th amendment, which received Presidential assent on 19 April 2010, education is no longer a privilege, but a fundamental right for all up to the age of sixteen.

Provinces, meanwhile, now have full responsibility for developing plans to ensure that every child is able to go to a decent school.

That is why we ask you to help us make March the month that Pakistan talks about only two things: education and cricket.

We want to start a debate about the how the country can unite across political, religious, and ethnic divides – dedicating itself to a cause that will determine its future.

Please join us in the March for Education.

FAQs

Why now?: Education is Pakistan’s most critical emergency. No country will enjoy security or robust economic growth without quality education. We simply cannot afford to wait.
Who is running the campaign?: The campaign has been launched by the Pakistan Education Task Force which brings together representatives from the federal and provincial governments, with leaders from civil society. Anyone, however is welcome to join the campaign.
What do you hope to achieve?: We want to launch a national debate, pushing education to the top of the political agenda. We are asking leaders from all political parties to make education their top priority in 2011. We believe they have a duty to work together to end the education emergency.
Is change possible?: Yes. 26 countries that are poorer than Pakistan put more children into primary school, so money is not the main obstacle. We know what we need to do to get every child into school. It can be done. With sufficient political will, we’ll see improved results within two years and transformation in our education system by 2020.
But we need to spend more on schools, right?: Yes, we do. And we certainly need to protect budgets during the current fiscal crisis. We cannot afford to balance the government’s budget on the backs of children who are denied the right to go to school. But we must spend the money we have more wisely, before steadily increasing education budgets to the levels spent by our neighbours.
What will happen in the March for Education?: We have a lot of activity planned. We will start by ringing the alarm, before beginning to explore the education emergency in more detail. We are also going to show you what the education emergency looks like on the ground.
How can I help?: Sign our petition. Get your friends and family to sign it to. We want to show Pakistan’s leaders that people really care about education. And why not call or write to your MNA or MPA? Or run your own event on the education emergency? You must come back to this site regularly, as we will have a growing number of ways for you to participate as the month goes on.
What’s your privacy policy?: We may send you email updates about the education emergency in Pakistan, but we will never sell your details to anyone else. If you ever want to stop us from contacting you, simply unsubscribe. All our emails to you will also include details of how to unsubscribe.
What about copyright?: All content on this site – text, images, animations, videos – is covered by a Creative Commons license. You can use them in anyway you like – especially to highlight the urgency of the education emergency – as long as you credit us and link to our site.