One day, a teacher noticed that one of her students was missing.

At first, there was nothing unusual about it. Students are absent from school for many reasons. A child may be sick, a family may have an emergency, or there may simply be a problem at home.

But this girl did not return.

Her teacher asked other students about her and tried to find out what had happened.

The question was simple: Where did she go?

The answer was painful.

The girl had been married.

Her education had ended.

The girl in this story is being called Kashmala, a pseudonym used to protect her identity.

Her teacher had expected her to return to the classroom. Instead, she learned that a decision had been made about the girl’s future while she was still young.

The classroom remained where it had always been. The books were still there. The teacher was still teaching.

But Kashmala’s seat was empty.

Her story is not only about one girl. It reflects a wider problem facing girls across Balochistan, where child marriage, poverty, limited educational opportunities, distance from schools and social expectations can push girls out of classrooms before they are ready to leave.

Among those who experienced this loss is Nazia Khan, a resident of Sariab Road in Quetta.

Nazia was only 16 when she was married. At the time, she was studying in Grade 8.

She was interested in education and wanted to continue her studies. But marriage interrupted her education before she could complete secondary school.

Like Kashmala, Nazia’s story shows how quickly a girl’s educational journey can change. One day she is a student, attending classes and thinking about her future. Then circumstances change, and the classroom becomes something she has left behind.

For 40-year-old Naaz Bibi, from a district of Mastung, the story began even earlier.

She was only 13 when she was married.

As a young girl, she wanted to study. She dreamed of becoming a doctor.

But she could not continue her education.

Decades later, that unfinished dream remains with her.

Today, Naaz Bibi has four children and is determined to give them the education she could not have. She wants them to build futures that were not available to her. She hopes one will become a doctor, another an engineer and another a teacher who can make their community proud.

Her story shows that the consequences of child marriage do not necessarily end when childhood does. The education a girl loses at 13 or 14 can remain a source of regret decades later.

Sometimes, an unfulfilled dream is passed forward as a hope for the next generation.

A national problem with a local face

These personal stories sit within a much larger national problem.

According to UNICEF, Pakistan has the sixth-highest number of child brides in the world, with an estimated 19 million girls married before the age of 18.

UNICEF has also reported a strong connection between child marriage and education. Only 13 per cent of married girls complete secondary school, compared with 44 per cent of their unmarried peers.

For Balochistan, the issue is particularly important because the province now has its own legal framework addressing child marriage.

The Balochistan Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2025, was passed by the Provincial Assembly on November 14, 2025, and received the Governor’s assent the same day. The law applies throughout Balochistan and defines an adult as a person aged 18 or above. A child marriage is defined as a marriage in which either or both contracting parties are children.

The law also introduces criminal penalties. An adult male above 18 who contracts a child marriage can face rigorous imprisonment of between two and three years and a fine ranging from Rs100,000 to Rs200,000. Anyone who performs, conducts, directs, promotes or abets a child marriage can face the same penalties.

The Act also requires the Nikah Khawan, Nikah Registrar and Union Council Secretary to obtain copies of computerized National Identity Cards or NADRA proof of registration of both parties before solemnizing or registering a marriage.

The 2025 provincial law repealed the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 in its application to Balochistan, while preserving pending cases and proceedings under the previous law.

But having a law does not automatically mean that child marriage has disappeared.

The real challenge is implementation.

A law can establish an age limit and penalties, but preventing child marriage also depends on birth registration, identity documents, awareness, enforcement and the willingness of families and communities to follow the law.

The education connection

The experiences of girls like Kashmala and Nazia show that child marriage is not only a legal issue.

It is also an education issue.

When a girl is married before completing school, her chances of continuing education can fall sharply.

The National Commission for the Rights of Child’s State of Children in Pakistan report, using census data, shows that among women aged 20–24 in Balochistan, 21.9 per cent had been married before the age of 18, while 7.2 per cent had been married before the age of 15.

Behind these percentages are girls whose childhoods and educational journeys may have been cut short.

Kashmala’s empty classroom seat, Nazia’s interrupted Grade 8 education and Naaz Bibi’s abandoned dream of becoming a doctor come from different places and generations.

But they raise the same question:

What happens to a girl’s future when marriage comes before education?

Leaving school is not simply the end of attending classes. It can mean losing access to higher education, professional skills and employment opportunities. It can narrow the choices available to a girl later in life.

Education, by contrast, can provide knowledge, skills and opportunities to become financially independent. It can help girls delay marriage and make informed decisions about their futures.

But education cannot continue if a girl cannot reach the next school.

Where the girls disappear

In many communities in Balochistan, primary schools may be available nearby while middle and high schools are much farther away.

For adolescent girls, long distances can create concerns about transportation, cost and safety. A family may decide that sending a daughter to a school far from home is not practical.

The girl may never formally say she wants to leave school.

She simply stops going.

Poverty can make the situation even harder. Even where tuition is free, families may still need to pay for uniforms, books, stationery and transportation. For households struggling to meet basic needs, continuing a daughter’s education may not always be considered a priority.

Household responsibilities create another barrier.

Girls may be expected to care for younger siblings, cook, clean, collect water or help other family members. These responsibilities can reduce the time available for studying and contribute to irregular attendance.

Over time, the distance between a girl and her classroom can become permanent.

This is why child marriage and girls’ education cannot be treated as completely separate issues. They can be connected through the same social and economic pressures.

Balochistan’s education data also raises questions about whether children, particularly girls, are successfully moving through the education system.

The Government of Balochistan’s School Education Department public education dashboard lists 210,416 students in Grade 1, compared with 110,670 in Grade 5, 65,564 in Grade 6, 57,998 in Grade 8 and 36,060 in Grade 10.

These figures are not a direct cohort study and cannot prove that every student who disappears between grades has dropped out. Children may change schools, repeat grades, enter education later or leave and return.

But the decline highlights an important question: what happens to students as they move towards higher grades?

For girls, the question is especially urgent.

How many enter school?

How many reach Grade 6?

How many reach Grade 8?

How many complete Grade 10?

And how many make it to college?

If girls disappear at particular transition points, authorities need to know why.

Is the next school too far away? Is transportation unavailable? Are families unable to afford the costs? Are household responsibilities increasing? Are girls being married? Or are social expectations making continued education difficult?

Without answers, dropout remains only a number.

Keeping girls in school

There are signs that targeted education programmes can make a difference.

In June 2026, UNICEF, the European Union and the Government of Balochistan announced the completion of the Balochistan Education Support Programme-II. According to UNICEF, the five-year programme provided improved learning opportunities to more than 760,000 children, including nearly 335,000 girls.

Such programmes demonstrate that access to education can be expanded.

But preventing girls from leaving school requires more than enrolling them.

It requires keeping them there.

Teachers can play an important role because they are often among the first people to notice when a girl begins disappearing from education.

A student who was once regular begins missing classes. Her participation declines. Her homework stops. Eventually, she stops coming altogether.

A teacher who asks, “Why is she absent?” may therefore be asking a much bigger question.

The answer could reveal poverty, household responsibilities, distance, safety concerns—or an upcoming marriage.

Education authorities need stronger systems for tracking girls through the education system. Their journey should not simply be measured from admission to attendance. Authorities should know how many girls move from Grade 5 to Grade 6, Grade 8, Grade 9, Grade 10 and eventually college.

If large numbers disappear at one stage, officials should investigate what is happening.

Solutions do not necessarily have to be complicated.

Girls need schools closer to their communities. Where that is not possible, they need safe and affordable transportation. Schools need functional toilets, water and secure learning environments. Families need information about scholarships and educational opportunities. Girls who have already dropped out need second-chance education.

But infrastructure alone will not solve the problem.

Communities also need to see girls’ education as more than preparation for marriage.

A girl’s education is an investment in her ability to learn, earn, make decisions, support her family and participate in society.

The law provides a framework, but implementation must reach the communities where decisions about girls’ futures are actually made.

A birth certificate, a CNIC check and a legal penalty can help prevent an underage marriage from being solemnized or registered. But awareness, access to education, family support and effective enforcement are equally important if the law is to translate into real protection.

The empty seat

Kashmala’s teacher asked a simple question:

Where did she go?

The answer was that she had been married.

Nazia’s answer is written in the interruption of her Grade 8 education.

Naaz Bibi carries another version of the same story. At 13, she lost the chance to become the doctor she dreamed of becoming.

Today, she is trying to make sure her children do not face the same loss.

She wants them to study.

She wants them to become professionals.

She wants one of them to become a teacher and make their community proud.

Her dream has changed, but it has not disappeared.

It has moved from herself to her children.

But girls should not have to wait until adulthood to understand what they lost.

A 13-year-old should be thinking about school, not marriage.

A 15-year-old should be preparing for examinations and imagining a career, not leaving the classroom permanently.

And a girl in Grade 8 should be able to dream of becoming a doctor without having that dream decided for her.

Nazia and Naaz Bibi belong to different generations, while Kashmala represents another girl whose education ended before she could decide her own future.

Their stories point to the same reality: when marriage comes before education, a girl can lose much more than her time in school.

She can lose choices.

She can lose opportunities.

And she can lose the chance to decide for herself what she wants to become.

The challenge for Balochistan is therefore not simply to reduce child marriage.

It is to make sure girls have genuine alternatives: accessible schools, safe transportation, supportive families, economic opportunities and the freedom to continue their education.

The law now says child marriage is punishable in Balochistan.

The next question is whether that protection reaches the girl sitting in the classroom before her seat becomes empty.

Because when a girl leaves school for marriage, society does not lose only a student.

It may lose a future doctor.

A future teacher.

A future engineer.

A future journalist.

Or simply a woman who had the opportunity to decide what she wanted her life to become.

Naaz Bibi could not become the doctor she once dreamed of becoming.

Now she is trying to make sure her children have the chance to become what they dream of.

The question is whether future girls will be given that chance themselves.

A girl’s childhood should not end before her dreams have had the opportunity to begin.