This special report in collaboration with Alif Ailaan looks at the government of Pakistan’s promise to spend 4 per cent of gross domestic produce (GDP) on education by 2018.

Data collated and shared by Alif Ailaan indicates there has been an upswing in the budget for education – but it is a weak one, uneven across provinces, and in the current position, poses an incredible challenge to the promise of 4pc GDP spend on education.

Pakistan’s spending on education has historically hovered around 2pc of the GDP. This year, the total allocation by the federal and provincial governments is Rs790.704 billion, which is 2.83pc of the GDP.

So is the goal of spending 4pc of the GDP on education by 2018 at all possible?

The data visualised below provides insight into what has been achieved so far, and what will be required by the government to fulfil its election promise.

Data sources: Alif Ailaan, annual budget statements, White Paper (for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab), Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (for GDP at base price)

Data visualisation by Hufsa Chaudhry and Jahanzaib Haque