Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday announced that the federal government would establish Daanish Schools in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and remote areas of Balochistan and Sindh to deliver quality education to children coming from economically disadvantaged families. “This is not the fault of the poor children if their parents cannot afford quality education despite working hard or those who are orphans…If the iron gates of the Atchison College or Grammar School are obstructing their way (to quality education), the door of Daanish Schools are open for them,” the prime minister said while addressing a ceremony after inspecting the site for a Daanish School being established in the Kuri area of the federal capital. To be established over 30 acres of land, the school will provide free education and accommodation to the children from the capital city and its suburbs with a vision to provide equal opportunity for quality education. Calling the alarming figure of 26 million out-of-school children “criminal negligence”, the prime minister said Quaid-e-Azam’s dream about Pakistan would remain unfulfilled without making arrangements for their education. “There can be no bigger national service or the fulfilment of the responsibility than enrolling these out-of-school children,” he said and announced that the federal government would fully bear the expenses of constructing Daanish Schools in AJK, GB, remote areas of Balochistan and Sindh. The premier also announced that the federal government would declare an education emergency in the country and would dole out all possible resources to educate children from disadvantaged families. He told the gathering of federal ministers, bureaucrats, heads of international institutions, educationists and students that the Daanish Schools project was initiated under PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif’s vision and that the students were making an impact in debate, sports and other fields internationally.