Pakistan: Education (not) for all
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God not geometry: two students at the Al-Nadwa madrasa memorising Koran quotes. This Islamic educational institution is not far from the capital, Islamabad. It is mainly poor families who send their children to schools like these. As well as a religious education, the schools provide the children with three meals a day and a roof over their heads -
Students take an afternoon nap at the Al-Nadwa madrasa near Islamabad. There are thousands of religious schools like these in Pakistan, many of them barely subject to state control. Some are suspected of teaching a radical interpretation of Islam -
Investment in the future: students at the Al-Nadwa madrasa in the Pakistani town of Murree await the call to prayer. Many parents send their children to school in the hope that this will improve the lives of the entire family -
Boys and girls learn alongside one another at one of the Mashal Model Schools in Islamabad. The schools provide a free education to children aged between three and 18. Many of them have experienced poverty and war or been sexually or physically abused. The institution was founded in 2008 by Zeba Hussain and is financed through donations -
It's not all work and no play: once classes have finished, students at the Mashal Model School in Islamabad play. A total of 860 students attend the school's three campuses. Some of the children used to sell flowers or wash cars on the streets before they began attending school. Here, they are able to behave like children -
The computers at the Mashal Model School in Islamabad may not be new, but for most students, the idea of owning any kind of PC is pie in the sky. Here they can at least learn how to use a computer -
At the Headstart School in Islamabad, students are introduced to modern technology at a young age. As well as religious schools, an increasing number of private schools are being founded in Pakistan. But only wealthy parents can afford an education of this kind -
School uniforms, a canteen, modern computers: all available to those students whose parents can afford the Headstart private school in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Many parents don't trust the quality of state schools