Closing the Distance to School

In parts of Swabi, a girl who finished middle school had nowhere to go next. There was no girls' high school nearby. She could make a long daily journey her family might not allow, or she could stop studying. Many stopped.

Amjad Ali has worked on this for years. He is General Secretary of the People's Action Group for Education in Swabi, and his team works to bring children back into school, especially girls. They also provide uniforms, school bags, books, and stationery to orphaned students and those from low-income families. That support has reached around 3,500 children.

But some problems are too big for one district group. Budgets, policy, accountability: those get decided elsewhere. "A single organisation can mobilise its own community," he says, "but a coalition can reach the National Assembly, the provincial government, the education department, and other stakeholders." So PAGE Swabi works inside PCE, using shared research and evidence to carry local problems into rooms it could not reach alone.

Two campaigns stand out for him. Bridging the Gap got people paying attention to money. Parents, civil society groups, and local representatives learned how an education budget is prepared, approved, and spent, and why it matters that ordinary people watch that process. Education, Skills and Learning for All started a different conversation, asking students in the district what skills they actually wanted to learn, and pushing for reform so young people leave school with something they can use, not only a certificate.

Now there is something he can point to. After sustained joint campaigning with PCE, steady work with the education department, and pressure from the community, girls' high schools have opened in parts of Swabi that had none. Several of them.

He is not done. Next he wants a girls' college in the district, so girls can carry on studying without leaving home. He is already pushing for it.

Ask him what he would say to other members of the coalition, and it comes down to this:

"Share information, share experience, and work together. Collective effort is what will make equal and universal education possible."

His hope for Swabi is simple. Every child finishes at least ten years of free, safe, quality schooling, in government schools that have the buildings, the trained teachers, and the materials to teach.