• Govt increases development budget from Rs39.4bn to Rs46bn
• Education ministry gets Rs36.3bn with Rs21bn for construction of Daanish schools

ISLAMABAD: The federal government in its budget earmarked Rs112 billion for the Higher Education Commission (HEC), increasing the development budget from Rs39.4 billion to Rs46 billion.

However, it kept the recurring grant unchanged despite demands from the HEC and faculty members of public sector universities for a significant increase.

The budgetary documents show that government has allocated Rs46 billion for development projects of the higher education sector against last year’s Rs39.4 billion.

However, there is no increase in the recurring grant with the allocation of Rs66.4 billion, which has been reflecting in the budget documents for the last many years.

This year, HEC had calculated a Rs138 billion recurring grant and in a revised demand requested the government to allocate at least Rs100 billion for the fiscal year 2026-27 “to stabilise institutional finances, sustain core academic operations and strengthen the country’s national research framework.”

It is relevant to note here that in the year 2017-18, the recurring grant was around Rs65 billion, which has remained unchanged despite significant growth in enrolment, expansion of universities, inflationary pressures and government-announced salary increases besides the increase in the rate of utility services and petroleum products.

“Public sector universities are consequently facing acute financial stress, particularly federally chartered institutions dependent on federal recurring support through HEC. Persistent resource constraints are affecting academic functions,” read an HEC letter, which sought Rs100 billion.

It had added that the stagnation of federal recurring grants since the financial year 2017-18 was contributing to a widening structural financing gap in the higher education sector.

Sources in HEC said that the chairman and executive director made all-out efforts to get the recurring grant increased, but to no avail.

According to the budget document, for the fiscal year 2026-27, the government has earmarked Rs46 billion for 131 ongoing development schemes of HEC (43.8 billion) and Rs2.2 billion for six Prime Minister’s Youth Programme.

The youth progamme’s projects include Green Youth Movement (Rs50 million), National Innovation Award (Rs250 million) Youth Development Centre (Rs700 million) Kamyab Jawan Talent Hunt Youth Sports League (Rs500 million), National Volunteer Corps (Rs400 million) and Rs300 million for the establishment of PM’s e-Sports Arena and Training Centres.

Education ministry

The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training has been allocated Rs36.3 billion for development schemes with major portion of the budget earmarked for the ongoing Daanish school projects.

According to budgetary documents, Rs36.3 billion has been earmarked for 30 development projects, including around Rs21.9 billion for 17 ongoing projects for construction of Daanish schools in different parts of the country, including Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK.

Besides, the government has allocated Rs200 million for the construction of Islamabad Model College for Girls (Prep to XII) at B-17 Multi-Garden Housing Scheme, while Rs200 million has been earmarked for construction of IMCG F-17/2. Similarly, Rs5 million has been set aside for Early Childhood Education Centre, Rs225 million for the ongoing scheme to award scholarships to students from Indian held Kashmir under the PM directive. Besides, Rs600 million has been allocated for construction of a graduate block at NCA Lahore, Rs350 million for strengthening performance for inclusive and responsive education programme, Rs100 million for ongoing missing facilities in educational institutions of Islamabad, Rs241 million for National Institute of Excellence in Teachers Education and Rs1249 million for the ongoing construction of Centre of Excellence for Autism Children H-8/4 Islamabad.

Moreover, Rs5290 million has been allocated for the PM’s youth skills development programme, Rs2610 million for skill development programme (NAVTTC) and Rs3000 million for PM’s Pakistan Fund for Education (revised).

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2026