PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elementary and secondary education minister Arshad Ayub Khan on Tuesday said a new enrolment campaign was being launched in the province to bring 2.6 million children to schools.

“For the first time, we hope that this enrolment drive will achieve 100 per cent results through a well-organised mechanism, with proper data records maintained and reviewed on a daily basis,” Mr Ayub told a meeting here.

The meeting was attended by Secretary of the Elementary and Secondary Education Department Mohammad Khalid, special secretary Masood Ahmed, managing director of the Elementary and Secondary Education Foundation Qaiser Alam, chief planning officer Zainullah and director (elementary and secondary education) Numanah Sardar. The district education officers from across the province participated in the meeting online, according to an official statement.

The minister said that the Green Enrolment Campaign 2026 was being launched to equip the province’s children with education and to promote forestry, and that concerned officers should utilise all their energies to ensure the success of this campaign.

Tree plantation also planned to promote forestry

He urged all stakeholders of the Green Enrolment Campaign 2026 to run the newly launched enrolment drive in an organised manner and successfully achieve the set targets, while strictly implementing all government-issued directives.

The minister emphasised placing special focus on girls’ education and ensuring maximum enrolment of female students.

He said that providing education to the children of the province was the top priority of the department, so the directorate and all district education officers should make the campaign successful through media, social media, madrasas, and the holding of open kutcheris.

The minister also said that cooperation should be sought from local members of the provincial assembly to ensure the success of the new enrolment campaign.

He said that special age relaxation would be given to children under the new enrolment drive, and that the digitised data of enrolled students would be collected.

On the occasion, the new enrolment drive for 2026 was formally named the Green Enrolment Campaign, under which tree plantation will also be carried out across the province alongside the enrolment drive to promote forestry.

Various opinions and suggestions were also presented during the meeting to ensure the success of the enrolment campaign.

The minister said that the Private Schools Regulatory Authority should further simplify the registration procedure for private schools and provide maximum facilities to these institutions.

He added that the current government would prepare a five-year plan for future enrolment campaigns.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2026