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The writer is a public health specialist who works for the Population Council Islamabad
In recent weeks, Islamabad has witnessed a flurry of activity with the inauguration of flyovers and underpasses aimed at easing traffic congestion and improving mobility across a rapidly expanding city — a trend mirrored in other major provincial cities. These projects reflect two underlying realities: Pakistan’s population is growing at an unsustainable pace, and our limited public resources are increasingly being diverted simply to keep up with that growth.
Every new flyover is a reminder that Pakistan is trying to build its way out of a demographic challenge it refuses to confront. But how long can we keep constructing more roads, multi-level highways and sprawling housing developments? Each new project diverts scarce resources from social development — while adding heavy environmental costs.
For a country positioned near the bottom of the Human Development Index and burdened with child and infant mortality rates like those in sub-Saharan Africa, national investment must shift decisively toward education and health rather than concrete and tarmac.
While Pakistan has declared an “education emergency” and enshrined the right to free and compulsory education in Article 25-A of its Constitution, the ground reality tells a different story. The persistence of low literacy rates, the large number of out-of-school boys and girls, and the high dropout rates among those enrolled expose the gap between intention and action.
We expect our federal, provincial and district level leadership to inaugurate more transformative projects such as girls’ literacy initiatives. Such programs could channel tax revenues into scholarships and incentives for families to enrol and retain girls in school, especially in underperforming districts.
More schools for girls, greater safety and sanitation – especially adequate toilets – female teachers and after-school “second shifts” can all contribute to higher enrolment and retention. Adult literacy programs should also be revived, offering stipends to teachers or community volunteers to educate illiterate adults, especially women.
Investing in girls’ education brings economic and social dividends. Educated women are more likely to enter the workforce, contribute to household savings, make informed choices about family size and raise healthier, better-educated children. In doing so, they expand the tax base, boost productivity and strengthen the economy.
Through a cross-party consensus, social protection programs such as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) can be leveraged more effectively. Families receiving BISP stipends could be encouraged to send their daughters to school through enhanced education stipends or vouchers. Similarly, health and family planning vouchers for women can ensure access to essential services, promoting both maternal well-being and child survival.
Even in advanced economies, leaders understand that early investment in human development yields the greatest long-term returns. The newly elected mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, has made universal child healthcare a centrepiece of his reform agenda — a reminder that true progress is built on a healthy future generation.
Pakistan must do the same. Protecting mothers through quality antenatal care, promoting institutional deliveries, ensuring at least a two-year gap between birth and the next pregnancy — consistent with both medical and religious guidance — along with universal immunisation and free child healthcare at public and private facilities, should form part of a federal and provincial Child Health Care Package.
The government must urgently reassess how its scarce resources are being spent. It is time for the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers to inaugurate high profile projects that look ahead — those that build Pakistan’s human capital, with girls and women at their centre. National prosperity will come not from another flyover, but from a new school, a functioning health facility, a safe classroom. That is the kind of infrastructure that truly builds nations.
