The National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and Alight Pakistan, formerly American Refugee Committee, have agreed to join hands to impart free education to out-of-school children at 22 schools in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) province.

An agreement to this effect was signed by Col Dr Amirullah Marwat (retd), Chairman, NCHD and Kamran Iftikhar Lone, Deputy Chief of Party, Alight Pakistan, at a simple but impressive ceremony at the former's office, here on Saturday.

NCHD and Alight Pakistan-funded schools will focus on the enrolment and quality education of the children belonging to the marginalised communities in the abovementioned two districts of the northern province of Pakistan. It may be added that Pakistan has the second-highest number of out-of-school children, with at least 5.6 million children under the age of 9 not attending school. Since 2018, Alight Pakistan is running country's largest-ever out-of-school children enrolment intervention in collaboration with the Government of Pakistan and Qatar's Education Above All Foundation.