Alternate Learning Pathways (ALP) Programme

In 2018, with technical assistance from UNICEF and funding from the Government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Pakistan started developing alternate learning opportunities in a BID to help children who had dropped out, or never been to school, resume learning in three provinces -- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh – even if they are overage. This new programme came as part of the Government’s efforts to tackle the issue of the 23 million children aged between 5 to 16 who are out of school – half of their age group. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where there are more than two million of children out of school – two-thirds of them girls -- the Elementary and Secondary Education Department launched the Alternate Learning Pathways (ALP) programme. UNICEF supported the Department to develop a complete Service Delivery Mechanism for in the province and created a Project Implementing Unit in September 2020. So far, 90 ALP centres have been set up with JICA funding, out of a total of 380 centres in ten districts which have enabled nearly 11,000 students -- 7,000 girls – to resume learning. Teachers and ALP Facilitators ensure that children, especially girls, can not only study but also engage in co-curricular activities and adopt social behaviours essential for their healthy mental and physical growth. Following COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, students were taught about key preventive behaviours to reduce virus transmission as soon as the centres reopened.