On January 13, 2025, the Malala Fund announced new grants totaling $655,000 to three civil society organizations in Pakistan aimed at improving girls' access to and completion of secondary education. The recipients, Tabadlab, Youth Tube, and Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi, are joining the Malala Fund's Education Champion Network, which now includes 17 partners in the country.
In Pakistan, 53% of the children out of school are girls, with many residing in rural areas. The education sector is challenged by limited financial resources, exacerbated by public debt and climate-related events, affecting nearly 6 million adolescent girls. This situation has led to a national education emergency, emphasizing the need for urgent government action.
Girls in Pakistan face significant barriers to education, including a lack of free, quality schools and teachers, along with rising poverty levels that compel them to contribute to household income rather than pursue their studies. Since 2013, the Malala Fund has invested $14.6 million in local initiatives to ensure girls can attend and complete school.
Malala Yousafzai, co-founder and Executive Chair of the Malala Fund, made the announcement during her participation in the "Girls' Education in Muslim Communities" conference in Islamabad, where she called on governments to uphold their commitments to girls' education.
Tabadlab is advocating for reforms to address teacher shortages, aiming to ensure one teacher per classroom in public girls' middle schools to reach 1 million girls at risk of dropping out. Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi focuses on mobilizing civil society in Sindh to adopt the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) program, which has shown success in reintegrating at-risk children into education. Youth Tube works to enhance girls' access to quality education in Punjab by strengthening women's roles in educational leadership through training and advocacy.