A parliamentary committee has learned that a fresh door-to-door enrolment push across the federal capital has surfaced roughly 26,000 children who were entirely outside the education system. Nearly 18,000 of those identified have since been brought into non-formal learning programmes, according to a briefing delivered on Monday. Main Developments The National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) launched the campaign across 36 union councils of Islamabad Capital Territory, targeting settlements where school attendance has historically lagged. Three tent schools have already been set up in Jogia, near Faizabad, specifically to serve children living in that area. Officials told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training that completing the non-formal track with the required certification opens the door to formal schooling. That pathway, however, drew scrutiny from lawmakers who questioned whether enough thought had gone into what happens after children finish the programme. Read also: Monsoon Rains Swamp Rawalpindi Low-Lying Zones Background The meeting, chaired by acting committee head Mahtab Akbar Rashdi, came as Pakistan grapples with one of the world's largest out-of-school child populations. Non-formal education centres have long been used as a bridge mechanism, offering accelerated learning that can later feed into mainstream classrooms. Previous parliamentary sessions have repeatedly flagged the gap between enrolment drives and actual retention. The NCHD's latest figures suggest the identification phase is working, but the transition phase remains the weakest link in the chain. Why It Matters Without a clear exit strategy, thousands of children risk falling through the cracks between non-formal completion and formal admission. The committee stressed that a comprehensive monitoring mechanism is essential to track educational progress and prevent dropouts from re-entering the out-of-school category. Beyond education access, the panel also raised alarms about narcotics infiltrating educational institutions. Lawmakers framed a drug-free learning environment as a shared duty spanning schools, police and regulatory bodies — a reminder that safety and attendance are intertwined issues. What's Next The standing committee has called for a robust follow-up framework to ensure children remain enrolled once they transition to mainstream schools. Officials are expected to return with concrete proposals on monitoring and retention mechanisms in subsequent sessions. Meanwhile, the NCHD's door-to-door drive continues across the remaining union councils, with the tent schools in Jogia serving as a pilot for similar interventions elsewhere in the capital territory.