Serious education reforms are being pushed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, but they reflect the scale of decay in the province's schools. The government has chosen to replace the outdated annual examination system up to grade 8 with a two-semester model. Officials argue that this will reduce the burden on students, prevent months-long learning gaps and lighten schoolbags with smaller books. Yet, education experts note that the measure stems not from foresight but from necessity as majority of students are failing their middle school examinations, exposing the depth of the crisis.

More significantly, the government is considering outsourcing and privatising thousands of public schools. This drastic shift is itself an admission that the existing system has failed miserably - plagued by ghost teacher

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