Nisar Ahmed
Founder
LUMS · Economics & Mathematics · Chaman, Balochistan
داخلہ — the Urdu word for admission. It is also a promise: that no student’s future should be decided by where they were born.
Globally, participation rates in higher education are rising. Between 2011 and 2021, global gross enrolment rates in university increased from 19% to 38% (UNESCO). Yet significant disparities still exist between the richest and poorest countries, and between regions within those countries.
Only 10% of low-income students access university globally — compared to 77% of higher-income students.
In Chaman, Khuzdar, Gilgit, Larkana — cities of hundreds of thousands of people — there is no university, no SAT tutor, no admissions counsellor, no one who has done it before.
Across less economically developed countries, a young person's chance of progressing to university is significantly influenced by their background.
Across 23 OECD countries, a child's chances of entering university are four times higher if one of their parents has also been to university. Background, not ability, decides who gets through the door.
The students in Pakistan's forgotten districts are not less capable. They are less guided. No consultant, no network, no one who has navigated the system before them.
It's time for change.
Evidence shows that there is no single skill — cognitive or noncognitive — that drives academic outcomes and progression to university. There is no silver bullet.
A range of interrelated competencies are required to give underserved young people the best chance of progression to university.
We need programme interventions that provide not just skills, but additional tools, motivation, confidence and self-awareness.
It has to start with partnerships, in local communities. This is where Daakhla comes in.
Counsellors and SAT tutors recruited. Curriculum designed and tested.
Applications open. Volunteer recruitment begins.
First students accepted for counselling and SAT preparation.
More districts, a growing mentor network, hundreds of students a year.
Every acceptance letter is proof the gap is closable.
International undergraduate, master’s, and PhD. The ceiling for a student from Chaman should not be where they were born. That is what داخلہ means.
His focus right now: building the infrastructure that scales — designing the curriculum, onboarding the first cohort of mentors, and making sure every system works before we grow it. Daakhla should run whether or not he’s in the room. That’s what makes it real.
Daakhla is built on people who have been through the admissions process themselves and chose to come back for the next generation — counsellors, SAT tutors, essay readers, and operations leads, across Pakistan, the UK, the US, and the Gulf.
No experience with admissions consulting required — just the willingness to show up.