Dear reader, online ads enable us to deliver the journalism you value. Please support us by taking a moment to
ISLAMABAD: Although the government has been claiming that it has given importance to education sector and that the education budget has been increased, it is just a game of figures.
In real terms, the federal education budget, announced on June 3 has been decreased by over Rs1 billion. And if inflation is accounted for, it is surprising to note that the education budget has been decreased by 11 per cent.
Due to this, it seems that the allocation of four per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for education will remain a distant dream, Dawn has learnt.
It is pertinent to mention that an estimate of Rs80 billion was announced for education in the fiscal budget of 2013-14. And during a revised estimate, a budget of Rs87.8 billion was allocated.
However, on Tuesday, a federal education budget of Rs86.4 billion was announced, which is 1.6 per cent less than the revised estimate of last year.
According to Economic Survey 2013-14, the inflation was 8.7 per cent. So, if inflation rate is deducted from the education budget, an overall decrease of 11 per cent will be observed and the budget becomes equal to Rs78.9 billion in real terms.
Renowned education researcher Ahmad Ali also agrees that the education budget, in real terms, has been reduced by 11 per cent.
While talking to Dawn, Mr Ahmad said if the federal education budget was examined, it would be interesting to know that 73 per cent of the budget has been allocated for Higher Education Commission (HEC). “9.38 per cent of the education budget has been estimated for the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), 5.1 per cent budget has been estimated for the Ministry of Education and Training, while 4.62 per cent budget has been allocated for educational institutions working in cantonment areas,” he said.
CADD
For the financial year 2013-14, Rs7.25 billion were allocated for CADD, whereas in 2014-15, Rs8.1 billion have been estimated. There is an 11.7 per cent increase on paper.
Mr Ahmad said that last year Rs22 million were allocated for the development budget but this year Rs749 million have been estimated for the development budget of CADD.
“This is an unprecedented increase and I doubt whether CADD will be able to utilise such a huge amount, because the increase in development funds is 3,248 per cent.
“It will be important to ensure timely release and effective utilisation of the allocated funds,” he said.
“Moreover, the current/recurring budget has been increased by only 2.2 per cent. This budget is divided into two portions, one is for salary and other is non-salary.
“Repair work of buildings, monitoring of quality of education, payment of utility bills and fuel of buses, along with other expenses are done from non-salary budget, so it should be increased,” he added.
HEC
Last year, Rs57.59 billion were allocated for the HEC. However, in the upcoming financial year Rs63 billion have been estimated.
“An amount of Rs43 billion has been fixed for current expenditure and Rs20.06 billion for development expenditures. Considering the growth needs of HEC, the allocation for development expenditure seems insufficient,” Mr Ahmad said.
Smaller provinces and southern Punjab ignored
An official of the Ministry of Education and Training said that smaller provinces have been neglected in the 2014-15 federal budget for higher education sector.
“As many as 54 new projects, worth Rs3.27 billion, have been proposed in the budget. However, only four of them have been approved by Central Development Working Party (CDWP),” said Ahmad Ali.
“There are 12 projects for Punjab in the budget, but only one of them is for southern Punjab,” he said.
According to the budget, 30 per cent of the total funds released for 154 development projects could not be utilised in the fiscal year 2013-14. Rs14.787 billion were released and Rs10.351 billion were actually used.
“Interestingly, National Fertiliser Corporation Institute of Engineering and Technology (NFCIET) Multan, established in 1985, and National Textile University Faisalabad, established in 2002, have been included among the newly established universities,” he said.
Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2014
Comments (26) Closed
If this government really cared about the future of Pakistan they would have made education their top priority. But unfortunately, they care more about their own future. Because unlike laptop, youth loan, and metro bus schemes, raising the standard of education does not buy votes.
Well done Mr Sharif. Keep up the good job to make poor the poorest and rich the richest.
Keep on building roads and bridges. Keep the masses illiterate and uneducated. Sure recipe for success.
Why should you expect something different from a Govt who can not account for shadow schools throughout Pakistan. Lower your expectation and stop expecting anything from corrupt people. Most of the government officials have their kids studying abroad on the money looted from poor people of Pakistan
No doubt Shareef brothers have little intrest in education but comparing 4% of gdp with fedral budget is also misleading. This 4% doesn't have to come only from fedral budget, it includes provincial local and private dpending (including educational spending by parents). As a whole nation we need to spend 4% of gdp on education.
Moreover, education is now provincial matter. We should expect more from provicial govts. We should change habit of draging islabad in everything. Topoon ka rukh cheif ministroon ki taraf modain.
A literate Pakistan would be a big threat to our semi-literate ruling class !
A constitutional Amendment is needed requiring that by 2020 Government must ensure College Education for every person in the country. I am disappointed that instead of increasing budget for education it has been decreases.
Every body does according to his own vision and you can now observe this govt vision
Please consider the fact while making any analysis that education is now completely provincial subject. n Fegral govt has nothing to do with this domain except that of higher education.
What else do you thankless people need? the PM and his daughter blessed you poor lot with loans so you can go and do whatever you want to achieve with those loans.
@rehan not semi. they are fully illiterate.
after 18th amendment education is a provincial matter....here federal govt. has nothing to do with it ........federal govt. can help provinces to some extent ............ it is doing in higher education....thats why pakistan's rating in high education and research sector has improved a lot and it can be seen in various world ratings...........let the provinces do their job in primary,secondary,female education.....don't blame the federal govt......................
In Musharraf's regime, a top official of the HEC told me that they did not know where to spend so much money awarded by the government. They called for the universities to submit their project proposals for funding. Sharif has no vision towards how education can revolutionize the development of the country. They belong to and believe in the poorly literate cottage industry culture where education is a secondary thing.
ISI is getting Rs 147bn, and HEC (all universities + other higher education institutions) will get Rs 63bn. You can see our priorities.
Please set our priorities right for this as well as future generations.
And also most of the Education Budget will be spent for distributing Laptops to increase their youth vote bank. Real Education can wait for a few more centuries. If people got properly educated in majority, they will be more aware and start asking for their rights and start to question the actions (or lack thereof) of the Governments.
No Govt wants that or is really interested in educating the nation. They want the majority to remain illiterate and so they can keep on playing with their minds with the same old recycled slogans on each elections.
very confused budget of confused government
The education budget at the federal level has relatively little importance after the 18th amendment. The real deal is the provincial budget. Pakistan's root problem isn't bad universities, but a poor primary and secondary school infrastructure, training of teachers et al., which can only be fixed at the provincial level. The headline, while technically correct, is misleading.
I wonder where all the N supporters are who don't hesitate commenting on everything N related
@Yawar If they raised education level people will learn and kick them out.
Some days back former chief economist was saying that the biggest problem at present is high power cost, so ideally govt. should be spending on it but no govt. has given roads more priority and in both previous and current budgets has allocated more funds for roads then for power generation and most of the power generation projects are being financed through loans or investments which will ultimately increase the power cost thus making most industries uncompetitive leading to their shutdown.
@Freeman well said
Well we should cut budget from all areas including the military budget......maybe then we will have something left for education; education is the most important need of Pakistan right now....
It is not just the budget that can affect the educational system. It is the planning and management of the system. At present, the quality of teachers is extremely poor, and their performance is zero.
The teachers, particularly in the country side, hardly spend 10 hours at school in a week. The whole system is miserable. Can you imagine what the increased budget will do - more corruption and more wastage.
The country needs a capable manager like Musharraf. If the country is doing what they are doing to him, you can imagine where the country is heading: self-destruction.
Unbelievable facts!
A politician in third world will not invest in any project not visible to common eye. While metro buses plying on elevated road meet the criteria, any investment in human development especially education is not good enough to win next election. Only a leader capable of thinking beyond next election will spend on education.
we are wasting money on free laptops, when the nation would greatly benefit more by providing the millions of children out of school, a basic education. The state needs to get its priorities right.