ISLAMABAD, July 5: A financing gap of Rs253 billion is hampering Pakistan from achieving 86 per cent literacy rate by 2015 under the Education For All (EFA) commitments that requires a total funding of Rs430 billion.

Pakistan is obligated to mobilize Rs178 billion from its own resources to achieve the 100 per cent participation rate at primary level and 86 per cent literacy rate. But, it needs international contributions as grants and soft loans to bridge the Rs253 billion gap.

This was disclosed during a presentation of Pakistan’s revised national plan of action for Education For All (2002-2015) here at the International Development Partners for EFA Forum organized by Unesco.

UN agencies and international donors including Unicef, UNDP, UNFPA, World Bank and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) reviewed the national plan of action.

Unesco representative in Pakistan Ingeborg Breines, while opening the meeting, presented the terms of reference of the International Partners for EFA Forum, which was formed to support Pakistan and its national plan. It was noted that Pakistan was the first country in the world to have developed its 15 year national plan of action.

The education secretary, Tariq Farook, while presenting the salient features of the plan, highlighted low cash flows from the development partners and governments despite the fact that the implementation of quality EFA needed high resources.

Education Minister Zobaida Jalal said the biggest challenge the government was facing was the implementation gap of the EFA policy, which though was in place through successful mobilization of stakeholders and political will.

The developing partners should step forward, she emphasized, in addressing this problem through a national strategy rooted in the local contexts.

“Please do not wait for the ‘next crisis’ to be over, which most donors tend to think of ‘going back to business’ in that imaginary ordered scenario. This is not a perfect world, which works through linear projections,” she said, adding that Pakistan’s children and youth need to achieve development milestones irrespective of domestic and international ups and downs.

“Let us be clear that this meeting was about those children who cannot afford to be deprived of immunization or basic education. This is not a choice issue, it is a right and it must be provided by the state by ensuring that there is an enabling environment,” Ms Jalal said.

She reiterated the government’s commitment to implement Dakar EFA goals and was happy to note that Pakistan had been honoured by its inclusion in the 23 countries eligible for Fast Track Financing, but asked for international support to become fully eligible.

She declared the timing of the meeting as significant for it had come after the G-8 meeting in Canada which had fallen short of $3 billion annual commitment.

She said by and large allocations to the ESR areas had been mainstreamed but still there were gaps in allocations to areas like literacy, technical stream, early childhood education and capacity building.

“Today I speak to you as a citizen of Pakistan and not as the federal minister, so please enhance active support towards our plan, which makes a difference in schools and places of learning,” she added.

World Bank has recently launched an EFA Fast Tracking initiative to assist identified countries in meeting the EFA challenge. Canada, which had hosted G-8 meeting with EFA figuring prominently on its agenda, also announced its intention to assist the education ministry to fine tune EFA plans, besides coming forward as one of the first donor countries with debt swaps for education.

Carroll Long, Unicef representative in Pakistan, assured that the international development partners for EFA would work and cooperate closely with the education ministry to facilitate its project and appreciate the government’s commitment for the uplift plan of education in the country.

World Bank representative Tehseen Syed explained the procedure and requirements for eligibility to receive additional funding under the EFA fast track initiative.

The meeting was also attended by Onder Yucer, UN representative, and John W. Wall, World Bank’s country director.