Mohalla Committees (MCs) have been a driving force in TACS in bringing the large number of OOSC to school. The MCs comprised of young volunteers, influential figures from the local community, parents, teachers, and government representatives. The purpose of establishing MCs was to spread awareness about the education crisis in Pakistan, identify problems at the Union Council level, and find solutions. In particular, the MCs were focused on reducing the number of OOSC and dropouts.
A total of 884 Mohalla Committees were formed throughout the life of the programme with an overall membership of 12,157. Key activities of the MCs included: setting up awareness sessions with parents of out of school children, organising enrolment campaigns, spotting missing facilities in targeted schools, developing school improvement plans, organising distribution campaigns for educational supplies, and provision of facilities in schools.
The MCs worked closely working with parents, teachers, government education departments, political leaders, and other key stakeholders to achieve their objectives. They also made thorough efforts in organising co-curricular activities for children in schools, in addition to taking the lead role in mobilizing resources for provision of facilities which were absent from the schools, such as clean drinking water, functional toilets, adequate furniture, school libraries, school uniforms, shoes, bags and stationery.
Since 2018, the MCs had been planning and executing Self Help Initiatives (SHIs) across Pakistan with the core objective to retain children enrolled in primary schools, keeping in view the needs and demands of their communities. It is encouraging to note that between the years 2018 and 2021, the MCs were able to raise 114 Million PKR which was spent on various SHIs over the years. It is also noteworthy to mention that the MCs worked throughout the pandemic to support local communities and the government in relief efforts.