Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE), Awaz Foundation Pakistan, Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA), Social Youth Council of Patriots (SYCOP) and Idara Baraye Taleem-o-Tariqi (IBT) have urged the federal and provincial governments to form a ‘Girls Education Task Force’ for devising a National Education Policy aimed at increasing ratio of girls’ enrolment in schools. Marriyum Amjad of Awaz CDS shared, “The most alarming fact notes that the net enrolment rate for girls stands at 72% at primary level; this comes down to 45% at middle school level and further drops to 27% at secondary level. This shows that while Pakistan has made strides in the realm of primary education for girls, greater attention and a coherent national policy is required to bridge the gender gap at secondary and higher secondary levels”. PYCA Executive Director Areebah Shahid praised the recent efforts of Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood for responding to a long-awaited request of the civil society to call an inter-provincial meeting of the education ministers to chalk out key priority areas for education reforms in the country. Launching a series of fact sheets to draw attention to the state of girls’ education at an event, the organizations – including PCE, Awaz Foundation Pakistan, PYCA, SYCOP and Idara Baraye Taleem-o-Taraqi (IBT)- called on the new government to make girls’ education a specific priority as part of its new national education plan. Additionally, the civil society organizations demanded that the national spending on education be increased to 4-6% of the GDP (with an annual increase of 1%); benchmark indicators and minimum quality standards for education should be defined and followed across the country; greater infrastructural investment should be made for girls’ higher secondary schools and the scope of Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan (that pledges free and quality education for every child between 5 – 16 years) should be expanded to cover the first 12 years of education. Published in Daily Times, November 29th 2018.