In many homes across Pakistan, the difference between a child staying in school and dropping out is not ambition or willingness but a few thousand rupees. It is the chingchi rickshaw or bus fare they were not able to afford, the notebooks they could not buy, and uniforms stitched one size big to last longer. For thousands of families in Pakistan, education is not denied in one singular moment but slips away piece by piece. This is why programmes such as Waseela-e-Taleem and Zewar-e-Taleem matter. They are not merely cash transfers, but they are also small promises that poverty should not decide a child’s future, especially girls.

Both programmes are built on the idea of conditional cash transfers. Families receive money only if children remain enrolled and maintain attendance. Waseela-e-Taleem, run under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), serves as a nationwide initiative for children from BISP-registered low-income families. Zewar-e-Taleem is a Punjab-specific programme focusing on girls in 16 low-literacy districts, currently supporting about 1.105 million students. This is an essential step, with UNICEF reporting that Punjab accounts for the largest absolute number of out-of-school children, nearing 9.7 million children aged 5–16 not attending school. Together, they represent two different approaches to the same goal: keeping children, especially girls, in school.

This reiterates that poverty is a central barrier to education. Schooling comes with hidden costs that often get overlooked, from........

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