Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur on Tuesday vowed that the provincial government will make education a “top priority” in the upcoming budget and allocate more resources towards the sector, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

The chief minister’s concerns follow in the wake of the unexpected textbook shortage in the province which has disrupted classes, high dropout rates, and Pakistan’s “low” ranking in the District Education Performance Index Report 2020-23.

“Presiding over a meeting in Peshawar, he directed measures to enhance teachers’ capacity, ensure 100 per cent merit in new recruitments, and establish schools in rented buildings in areas where they are urgently needed,” the report said.

During the meeting, it was decided that comprehensive and multi-faceted measures would be taken to increase student enrollment in schools. In this regard, schemes would be included in the upcoming budget to support various activities.

“Gandapur expressed concern that in some districts, the rate of out-of-school children remains alarming, and the declaration of an education emergency is a necessary step to reduce this number and improve enrollment rates,” it added.

The chief minister emphasised strengthening the monitoring system and taking steps to provide missing facilities such as laboratories, examination halls, and other essential infrastructure in existing schools.

During the last two decades, students received books from the provincial government free of charge at the start of the scholastic year in April. Two years ago, the government decided to deliver only half of the required books as the costs reached over Rs10 billion, directing the schools’ administration to collect old books from the students promoted to the next grades and fulfil the remaining book requirements.

This year, however, a complex situation has emerged in schools as the textbook board claims that it has printed all the books requested by the education department but students and teachers have complained about a shortage of books.

In August last year, an official report placed the country’s education system in the ‘low’ performance category and highlighted critical areas requiring attention to improve education outcomes.