The Crisis We’re Addressing
One in three children.
25 million futures at stake.
A generation being left behind.
25.1M
children aged 5-16 are out-of-school (35% of all children)
education expenditure as a share of GDP, less than half of what's recommended by UNESCO
80%
children at late primary age are not proficient in reading (adjusted for OOSC)
42%
adults aged 15+ cannot read and write
WHO WE ARE
A coalition building collective power for education
transformation.
Established in 2005, Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) is not a traditional NGO. We are a platform that amplifies the collective voice of civil society to transform Pakistan’s education system.
Operating as an initiative of the Society for Access to Quality Education (SAQE), we work across Pakistan through a network of grassroots organizations, strategic partners, and citizen groups united by a common belief that Article 25-A of Pakistan’s Constitution - the Right to Education - guaranteeing free, compulsory education for all children aged 5-16, must be realized in full.
WHAT DRIVES US
Vision
Education for all children and youth in Pakistan which nurtures them to become critical thinkers and conscientious citizens promoting harmony, democracy, and justice.
Mission
To work towards ensuring free, quality education for all - irrespective of gender, religion, and class - that promotes peace, tolerance, democracy, and justice while safeguarding diversity.
HOW WE ADDRESS THE CRISIS
Through evidence generation, multi-level policy dialogue, social accountability mechanisms, community mobilization and awareness building, we create the sustained pressure necessary for education reform. Our strength lies in coalition power - diverse organizations and individuals working together to achieve what no single actor can accomplish alone.
THE COALITION IDEOLOGY
What makes PCE different
Evidence-driven
Voices without evidence can be ignored. And, evidence without community voice has no power. PCE brings both together and that combination is what moves policy.
Local to global, global to local
PCE doesn’t choose between grassroots work and international advocacy. Realities from 1,500+ union councils reach UN committees. Global commitments translate into local accountability. Both directions matter.
Long-term by design
Education transformation doesn’t happen in project cycles. PCE has been building relationships, generating evidence and pushing for reform for over twenty years. That continuity is rare and it’s why our advocacy lands.
Sustained pressure
Systemic change requires sustained, coordinated pressure across levels, community, district, provincial, national, international, simultaneously. Not a one-off campaign. A movement.
Building capacity, not dependency
PCE doesn’t just mobilise people for its campaigns. It builds their skills and confidence to lead their own. Pakistan’s education movement grows stronger and more independent every year.
Our approach to creating change
PCE operates through a multi-tiered strategy that simultaneously engages communities, districts, provinces, the national government, and international platforms. This integrated approach ensures that grassroots voices reach policymakers while policy commitments translate into community-level action.
We achieve this by
Research & Evidence Generation
We generate credible, policy-relevant research that shapes national debates. From budget tracking studies revealing whether schools actually receive allocated funds, to analyses of education sector plans, to documenting the impact of climate disasters on learning and capturing unexplored dimensions like youth agency in education. Our research gives civil society and policymakers the evidence needed to drive informed decisions.
Publications
Galvanizing Communities: Instilling Change at the Grassroots
Real change begins at the grassroots. Through our members, we reach over 1,500 union councils across Pakistan, building awareness of their rights, capacitating communities to demand accountability and creating citizen-led platforms like People’s Action Groups for Education (PAGE) where parents, teachers, and local leaders collaborate to solve challenges in their communities. We mobilize youth through a dedicated platform called Young Education Changemakers Network (YECN) so they can advocate for reforms that reflect their realities.
Partnership & Coordination
We convene diverse actors - from government education departments to international development partners to academia - creating spaces for dialogue that bridge divides. PCE has established partnerships with government bodies and has also earned credible reputation at global platforms including the Global Partnerships for Education (GPE), Brookings (NEST), Global Campaign for Education (GCE) and Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE). Through these partnerships, PCE works to ensure that local realities inform international agendas while global best practices strengthen domestic advocacy.
Learn More
Social Accountability
We implement and support social accountability mechanisms that shift power dynamics in Pakistan’s education system, with the aim of transforming citizens from passive recipients into active agents demanding transparent, accountable education governance. Our Town Halls are a key example; as we convene local officials, legislators, and education leaders into public schools-where students, parents, teachers, and community members raise demands directly to their leaders. Commitments made become formal pledges - on which PCE leads follow-through.
Advocacy & Policy Engagement
We engage policymakers at every level - from district education officers to provincial education departments, from parliamentary committees to federal ministries. Through evidence-based policy briefs, legislative analysis, and continuous dialogue, we push for reforms in education laws, policies, sector plans, curriculum and finances.
Capacity Building
We strengthen the capacity of our coalition members, civil society organizations and multiple other actors including youth/ students, teachers, parents, community leaders to effectively advocate for education. Through training programs, resource sharing and organizational development support, we are building a sustainable movement for education transformation that extends far beyond PCE itself.
OUR JOURNEY
Two decades of policy advocacy
Message from our Executive Director
Pakistan is home to one of the world’s youngest populations—over 60% of us are under 30. This isn’t just a statistic. It’s a generation brimming with potential, waiting for the education that will allow them to shape their own futures.
But education is more than textbooks and exams. Our children need learning that sparks joy, builds life skills, and develops the critical thinking necessary to tackle the challenges ahead—climate change, poverty, inequality, injustice. They need an education that prepares them not just for jobs, but for citizenship in a Pakistan they’ll build themselves.
This kind of transformation doesn’t happen through government action alone. It requires all of us—media, academia, teachers, parents, communities. Most critically, it requires that we place young people, especially girls, persons with disabilities, and those from marginalized communities, at the center of decisions about their own education. Not as beneficiaries, but as architects of change.
For over two decades, PCE has worked on a simple conviction: systemic change requires collective power. No single organization, no matter how well-resourced, can fix Pakistan’s education crisis alone. But when we unite diverse voices, when we generate evidence that policymakers cannot ignore, when we mobilize communities to demand what Article 25-A already promises them, when we hold government accountable at every level—change becomes not just possible, but inevitable.
Every child in Pakistan deserves quality education. Not as charity. As their constitutional right.
The road is long, but together—as a united civil society—we’re transforming Pakistan’s education emergency into an education revolution.