ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training on Monday said though the education sector got a substantial increase in its budget this year, a lot of more funds and commitments were required to put the sector on the right track.

The ministry said keeping in view the education emergency this year, the federal government and provinces overall allocated 1.91pc of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for education.

However, to fulfil the international commitment of 4pc of the GDP for the sector, an amount of Rs4,242 billion would be required. The federal government this year allocated Rs215 billion, Punjab Rs673 billion, Sindh Rs508 billion, KP Rs393 billion, Balochistan Rs162 billion, AJK Rs48 billion and Gilgit-Baltistan Rs33 billion. In the allocation of the federal government’s Rs215 billion, 46pc was for development and 54pc for current expenditures.

“Federal and provincial governments have approved their budgets which were presented in parliament and provincial assemblies. They have published their annual budget statements for 2024-25, highlighting the allocation to the education under the heads of current and development,” said a statement issued by the education ministry.

Says to fulfil international commitment of 4pc of GDP, Rs4,242bn would be required for sector

The data of the annual budget statements were analysed and keeping in view the education emergency, Pakistan made a substantial increase in the education budget. The percentage of GDP was raised from 1.5 (2023-24) to 1.91pc this year. All the provincial/area governments also increased the education budget ranging from 15 to 20pc, it said.

It may be noted here that the country’s education sector is neglected in budget allocations to meet the challenges that include over 26 million out-of-school children, issue of quality education in public sector schools and poor infrastructure.

A report on the performance of the education sector released by the Pakistan Institute of Education, a subsidiary of the education ministry, last year showed a harrowing state of affairs in the sector, particularly the disparity in the availability of essential facilities such as toilets, potable water and boundary walls in different regions of the country.

The Pakistan Education Statistics 2021-22 underscored a lack of funds, poor pupil-teacher ratio, missing basic facilities as well as the out-of-school children. The report covered 313,418 education institutions, catering to 54,870,964 students with the support of 2,139,631 educators. It said there was a pressing need for strategic planning and sustainable investment in critical sectors, particularly education, to build a resilient and inclusive society.

As per the report, Punjab, Islamabad Capital Territory and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa fared comparatively better in terms of education facilities. An alarming number of schools across Pakistan lacked toilets, potable water among other basic facilities.

Balochistan’s education sector faced significant challenges. The report said only 23 per cent of primary schools in the province had access to potable water.

Azad Jammu Kashmir had 31pc primary schools with access to drinking water followed by 61pc in Sindh. Gilgit-Baltistan’s 63pc primary schools had potable water. The situation was not much better in middle schools either; only 40pc schools in Balochistan and 52pc in AJK had access to potable water.

According to the report, only 59pc of Sindh’s schools, 39pc in Balochistan, 31pc in AJK and 61pc in GB had a boundary walls.

Electricity availability also showed significant regional discrepancies. Punjab and ICT had managed to provide electricity to all primary schools figures were lower in other provinces and regions: 15pc in Balochistan, 21pc in AJK, 38pc in Sindh and 44pc in Gilgit-Baltistan were powered.

It said 24pc of primary schools across Pakistan did not have toilet facilities, adding 10pc middle and 3pc high schools were also without this basic facility.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2024