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.