Pakistan, Oct. 18 -- Some numbers wound more than they inform. Four point seven million children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are out of school. Each one is a name erased from the future. It is a verdict on a state that has abandoned its own young.

The newly elected government inherited a province sitting atop an educational graveyard. Article 25-A of the Constitution promises every child between five and 16 years a free education. In KP, that promise reads like a cruel joke. Civil society estimates it would take fifty years to build enough schools to accommodate those left behind. The math is simple but the moral failure is not.

Girls suffer the most. In the merged tribal districts, nearly three-quarters of girls have never seen a classroom. ...