Poverty, in specific, acts as a constraint to limit the amount of time a child can spend in school because of his need to participate in the workforce as an earning member. Within the general EFA framework, there is a clear acknowledgement of the need to shift to direct planning to bring education to disadvantaged groups in society as opposed to relying on a blanket approach of education delivery. No particular or specific reference has been made to the problem of making formal schooling accessible for working children at either the national or provincial level. The most considerable effort in this regard comes from civil society initiatives and NGOs who have set up centers to enroll working children in non-formal schools (specifically set up to meet the needs for this group).

A distinct classification must be made between school children from urban and semi-urban districts. This is imperative because outside Karachi and Hyderabad, school attendance and participation is greatly influenced by agricultural cycles. Children enrolled at a school surveyed in Sehwan were helping in the field as it was a cotton-picking season and parents felt they would be of more use assisting on the fields than in schools. The main impediments to children attending a complete school year in Karachi, were similar but more erratic in nature. Students (especially of classes 4 and 5) would stop attending regular school if they found work in the massive informal sector of the industrial capital.