EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN
Pakistan has low indicators of educational attainment, and education has been underfunded for decades. The country’s enrollment rate for those aged 5 to 24 in the mid 2000s was s 36 percent (41.2 percent for males, 30.4 percent for females). Primary school enrollment was 95.4 percent in 2019 compared to 81.3 percent in 2005. Secondary school enrollment was 43.8 percent in 2019 compared to 25.6 percent in 2005. In 2001, about 54 percent of children between the ages of three and four were enrolled in some type of preschool program, about 59 percent of age-eligible students (68 percent for boys and 50 percent for girls) were enrolled in primary school. The student-to-teacher ratio for primary school was at about 40:1 in 2003. Literacy and enrollment rates tend to be higher in urban areas. [Source: World Bank, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007; Library of Congress, February 2005 **]
During the 1980s and most of the 1990s, public expenditures on education averaged 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), but have fallen to less than 2 percent of GDP since 1998. Of the fiscal year (FY) 2004 budget’s current expenditures, US$161.1 million — 1.4 percent — was allocated to education, as was US$201.6 million — 1.7 percent — of the FY 2005 budget. **
In addition to state education there is an extensive network or religiously-sponsored schools. According to 2001 government figures, the system included 147,736 primary schools, 25,472 middle-level schools, 15,416 high schools and vocational institutions, 352 professional colleges, and 26 universities. In addition to public and private schools, an indeterminate number of mosque-administered madrassas provide free room, board, and theological education, which makes them an attractive option for poor families. Some madrassas are suspected of having links to religious militants, prompting the government to announce its intention of establishing greater regulation over these institutions. **
Education Statistics for Pakistan
Education expenditures: 2.9 percent of GDP (2017) (compared to 5 percent of GDP in the United States and 7.6 percent of GDP in Norway). Compared with other countries in the world, Pakistan ranks 142nd. Education expenditures: 14.5 percent of government budget (2017). [Source: World Bank; CIA World Factbook, 2020]
Literacy (percentage of population age 15 and over that can read and write): total population: 59. 1 percent; male: 71. 1 percent; female: 46.5 percent (2015). [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2020]
Primary school enrollment: 95.4 percent in 2019 compared to 81.3 percent in 2005.
Secondary school enrollment: 43.8 percent in 2019 compared to 25.6 percent in 2005.
Out of school children, primary age: male: 2,760,713; female: 3,874,041; total: 6,633,175
Gender parity index from gross enrollment ratio, primary: 1
World Bank datatopics.worldbank.org]
Adjusted net attendance rate, one year before official primary entry age (percent): 61
Adjusted net attendance rate, primary education (percent): 62
Adjusted net attendance rate, lower secondary education (percent): 33
Adjusted net attendance rate, upper secondary education (percent): 33
Completion rate, primary education (percent): 60
Youth literacy rate (15 — 24 years) (percent): 75
[Source: UNICEF DATA data.unicef.org]
Literacy in Pakistan
Pakistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. Only 60 percent of Pakistanis are able to read and write, compared to an average of 73 percent in South Asia and 70 percent in low-income countries worldwide. Pakistan’s rate is better than it used to be. In the 1990s only 40 percent of Pakistanis could read and write. In 1947 only 15 percent could. The literacy rate for women is lower than for men, primarily the result of less education opportunities for females.
Literacy (percentage of population age 15 and over that can read and write): total population: 59. 1 percent; male: 71. 1 percent; female: 46.5 percent (2015). [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2020]
According to the 1998 census, 43.9 percent of those aged 10 or older were literate, but the literacy rate was higher for males (54.8 percent) than for females (32.0 percent). The 2003 estimates for literacy were 45.7 percent for those 15 years of age and older (59.8 percent for males and 30.6 percent for females). [Source: Library of Congress, February 2005 **]
Pakistan’s literacy rates are a disgrace compared the literacy levels of 97 percent in China and 96.3 percent in Sri Lanka. The literacy rate in India in 74 percent. In the 1980s when the official illiteracy rate in Pakistan was 27 percent probably less than 10 percent of males and 5 percent of females could write their name. In the 1980s the literacy rate in the Punjab, regarded by some as one of the better educated places in Pakistan, was 17 percent. About 46 percent of the world's illiterate people are found in South Asia, up from 22 percent in 1960. The adult literacy rate in South Asia is 73 percent, compared to 65.5 percent in Sub-Sahara Africa.
The national and provincial governments have worked together to combat illiteracy as it is viewed as one of the most serious obstacles to economic and social development. Literacy improved from 34.8 percent (male 47.3 percent and female 21.1 percent) in 1991 to 43.6 percent (male 56.2 percent and female 29.8 percent) in 2000. Programs to reduce illiteracy have included model programs in each province. Many adult literacy centers, including women’s literacy centers, have been established, with the majority in Sindh. The People’s Open University was established at Islamabad to provide mass adult education. A program called "User of Quranic Literacy for Promotion of Female Literacy" took advantage of the ability of many women to read the Quran in Arabic as a tool to learn to read Urdu. [Source: “Cities of the World”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002; “Countries and Their Cultures”, Gale Group Inc., 2001]
Early History of Education in Pakistan
According to the “World Education Encyclopedia”: “Pakistan traces its history of education to the advent of Islam and Islamic/Arabic culture to the Indian subcontinent with the invasion of Muhammad bin Qasim in Sindh in 712 A.D.. By that time, the Arabs had already distinguished themselves not only as conquerors and administrators over vast territories in the Middle East and North Africa but even more significantly as creators of a culture replete with literature, art, architecture, and religious studies. With the establishment of Muslim rule at Delhi in 1208 A.D., the Islamic culture made extensive inroads on the subcontinent, converting a quarter of its population to Islam over the next five centuries. [Source: “World Education Encyclopedia”, The Gale Group Inc. 2001]
“The traditional school system had been the mainstay of education among Muslims of the subcontinent from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries until the rise of the British power beginning in 1757. Increasingly, some leaders of the Muslim community, notably Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898), urged the Muslim youth to join the modern educational system initiated by the British. With the adoption of English as a medium of instruction after Thomas Babington Macaulay's infamous minute in 1835, and the rapid increase in the number of educational institutions following Sir Charles Wood's Education Despatch of July 1854, learning in Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian receded, making way for English and for the adoption of Western education. In 1857 three universities were established in the "presidency" cities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, producing not only the subordinate bureaucrats as intended but also hundreds of university graduates wanting to take up higher education in the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences.
“Hindus took more readily to the new education than did the Muslims. Muslim leaders such as Sir Sayyid saw the danger that their co-religionists would fall behind the Hindus and be kept out of the bureaucracy if they did not prefer the modern educational system over the traditional. Under Sir Sayyid's leadership, the Anglo-Oriental College (later upgraded to Aligarh Muslim University) was founded in 1875. It did not eliminate the traditional system of education, but there is no doubt that it seriously undermined its standing and standards. The Anglo-Oriental College provided higher education on the British pattern (more particularly that of Cambridge University) and produced a remarkable leadership for the Muslims of the subcontinent, particularly in present-day Uttar Pradesh, for educational, social, and legal reform and promoted the Muslim nationalist movement, which eventually led to the partition of the subcontinent and the birth of Pakistan. It also produced brilliant graduates, who went to England for higher education, some of them serving in the Indian Civil Service, which prided itself in being the iron framework of the British imperial edifice in India.”
Growth of the Education System in Modern Pakistan
At independence, Pakistan had a poorly educated population and few schools or universities. Although the education system has expanded greatly since then, debate continues about the curriculum, and, except in a few elite institutions, quality remained a crucial concern of educators in the early 1990s. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]
In 1947, when Pakistan became independent and included what is now Bangladesh, there were 11,057 primary and secondary schools with an enrollment of 1,053,000. By 1991, the number of primary schools had risen dramatically to 87,545 with an enrollment of more than 7.7 million students in Pakistan alone (without Bangladesh). At the same time there were 11,978 secondary schools with nearly 3 million students. Between 1947 and 1995, the population rose from 42 million in present-day Pakistan to 129 million. In 1947, Pakistan had 1 university, 20 professional colleges and 83 colleges of arts and science with a total enrollment of 37,102 students. In 2000, there were 35 universities. The rise has been tempered somewhat the fact that rates of illiteracy were still high at 75 percent in the 1990s, and 90 percent among women. In the rural areas of provinces such as Balochistan, only two percent of women could read. [Source: “World Education Encyclopedia”, The Gale Group Inc. 2001]
Adult literacy is low, but improving. In 1992 more than 36 percent of adults over fifteen were literate, compared with 21 percent in 1970. The rate of improvement is highlighted by the 50 percent literacy achieved among those aged fifteen to nineteen in 1990. School enrollment also increased, from 19 percent of those aged six to twenty-three in 1980 to 24 percent in 1990. However, by 1992 the population over twenty-five had a mean of only 1.9 years of schooling. This fact explains the minimal criteria for being considered literate: having the ability to both read and write (with understanding) a short, simple statement on everyday life. *
Relatively limited resources have been allocated to education, although there has been improvement in recent decades. In 1960 public expenditure on education was only 1.1 percent of the gross national product (GNP); by 1990 the figure had risen to 3.4 percent. This amount compared poorly with the 33.9 percent being spent on defense in 1993. In 1990 Pakistan was tied for fourth place in the world in its ratio of military expenditures to health and education expenditures. Although the government enlisted the assistance of various international donors in the education efforts outlined in its Seventh Five-Year Plan (1988-93), the results did not measure up to expectations. *
Education Under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Zia
In 1973, under Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's schools were nationalized in an effort to provide free education accessible to all that wanted it. But the measured failed dismally partly because teachers were given such low salaries that many didn't even bother to show up at school. The under General Zia-ul-Haq who became leader in 1977, schools became more Islamized
In 1973, a year after Pakistan lost its eastern wing, which became Bangladesh, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, criticized the post-colonial education system and demanded major changes: “Ever since we gained independence, education has remained the most neglected sector in the body politic of our country. For a long time, the obsolete idea of producing an educated class from amongst the privileged few to constitute the elite in the country remained the cornerstone of our educational system. This was a heritage of colonialism.” [Source: “World Education Encyclopedia”, The Gale Group Inc. 2001]
According to the “World Education Encyclopedia”: “The new policy of education Bhutto announced was designed to broaden the base of education through increased access to it by people from all strata of the society. The aim of education would be to create an equitable society based on socialism and the egalitarian values of Islam. Admission to higher education would be based on merit. Special efforts would be made to remove regional economic disparities. The government's policies would be directed toward enabling people of all provinces an opportunity through education and training to participate in the country's agricultural and industrial development and in higher levels of employment, including government. Academic freedom, limited only by considerations of national security, would be fully guaranteed to institutions of higher learning. The system would create respect for manual labor, would be more science-oriented and conscious of environmental needs, and would make the youth of the country aware of their duty to participate in social improvement programs.
“Prime Minister Bhutto regretted that 50 percent of the population of the country as a whole was illiterate, with the female population being worse off, with 75 percent illiteracy. His plan introduced a number of adult literacy programs all over the country and aimed at universal primary education up to the fifth grade for boys by 1979 and for girls by 1984. The plan also aimed at redressing the imbalance in higher education, which had thus far stressed arts and humanities with an enrollment of 61 percent and grossly neglected science and technical education. In order to promote the industrial development of the country, the Bhutto administration aimed at raising the enrollment in technical education to 42 percent and in science to 30 percent.
“Between 1972 and 1974 several new universities were opened and some institutions of higher education upgraded to a university status. In 1973 the University Grants Commission was established to fund all universities in the country and to help them, particularly with planning new programs. Some universities were identified as Centers of Excellence; new Area Studies Centers were established at some leading universities. Among the most notable initiatives was the establishment of the People's Open University (later named Allama Iqbal Open University) in 1974, which has blossomed into a dynamic agency for adult education open to all across the country regardless of age, gender, class, or ethnic origin. The education offered by this remarkably successful university has not only raised the level of literacy but has produced large numbers of highly qualified persons who have earned higher degrees, including the doctorate, in several fields.
“Bhutto's government was toppled by General Zia-ul-Haq. Bhutto was assassinated in 1977, and along with him, his several policy initiatives, including those in the field of education, were laid to rest. Zia instituted a number of measures to win over important segments of the society, notably, the mullahs (Islamic clerics) and the large numbers of masses whom they controlled. In the late 1970s Zia ordered nationalization of private schools with the intent of providing broader access to the middle and lower classes, thereby making major dents in the elitist policies dating from the British colonial rule that had favored the middle and higher classes. Among his populist measures was making the study of Urdu compulsory at the primary and secondary levels and increasing the content of Pakistani and Islamic studies in the curriculum. Regarding these as anti-elite measures, a large number of affluent families sent their children abroad not only for university education but even for high school diplomas. Consistent with the Zia regime's policies of Islamization of the country's polity and society, a series of educational conferences was held during 1988-89. In 1991 the government appointed the Commission on Islamization of Education to emphasize Islamic values, learning and character-building.
Efforts to Reform Pakistani Education in the 1980s and 90s
Three initiatives characterized reform efforts in education in the late 1980s and early 1990s: privatization of schools that had been nationalized in the 1970s; a return to English as the medium of instruction in the more elite of these privatized schools, reversing the imposition of Urdu in the 1970s; and continuing emphasis on Pakistan studies and Islamic studies in the curriculum. [Source: Peter Blood, Library of Congress, 1994 *]
Until the late 1970s, a disproportionate amount of educational spending went to the middle and higher levels. Education in the colonial era had been geared to staffing the civil service and producing an educated elite that shared the values of and was loyal to the British. It was unabashedly elitist, and contemporary education — reforms and commissions on reform notwithstanding — has retained the same quality. This fact is evident in the glaring gap in educational attainment between the country's public schools and the private schools, which were nationalized in the late 1970s in a move intended to facilitate equal access. Whereas students from lower-class backgrounds did gain increased access to these private schools in the 1980s and 1990s, teachers and school principals alike bemoaned the decline in the quality of education. Meanwhile, it appears that a greater proportion of children of the elites are traveling abroad not only for university education but also for their high school diplomas.
The extension of literacy to greater numbers of people has spurred the working class to aspire to middle-class goals such as owning an automobile, taking summer vacations, and providing a daughter with a once-inconceivable dowry at the time of marriage. In the past, Pakistan was a country that the landlords owned, the army ruled, and the bureaucrats governed, and it drew most of its elite from these three groups. In the 1990s, however, the army and the civil service were drawing a greater proportion of educated members from poor backgrounds than ever before.
One of the education reforms of the 1980s was an increase in the number of technical schools throughout the country. Those schools that were designated for females included hostels nearby to provide secure housing for female students. Increasing the number of technical schools was a response to the high rate of underemployment that had been evident since the early 1970s. The Seventh Five-Year Plan aimed to increase the share of students going to technical and vocational institutions to over 33 percent by increasing the number of polytechnics, commercial colleges, and vocational training centers. Although the numbers of such institutions did increase, a compelling need to expand vocational training further persisted in early 1994.
According to “Countries and Their Cultures”: “In February 1998 the prime minister announced a draft for a new education policy from 1998 to 2010, to increase the number of elementary and secondary schools to meet the projected enrollment of twelve million children, including about six million female children in the primary schools by 2003. The draft also suggested establishment of community-based nonformal schools to fill the school gap and to help minimize the cost of primary schools.The new education policy also proposed training about thirty-six thousand teachers each year from 1998 to 2003 to maintain a pupil-teacher ratio of forty to one, with most new teachers to be females. A reduction in military spending was also proposed so funds could be channeled toward countrywide primary education for all children. [Source: “Countries and Their Cultures”, Gale Group Inc., 2001]
Pakistan’s Performance on the the TIMSS Tests
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international educational achievement evaluation by the International Association for the Evaluation. Since 1995, the study has measured international trends in student achievement in mathematics and science at grades four and eight.About 600,000 students from 58 countries participated in TIMSS 2019 test. The majority of these countries were upper-middle income or high-income countries. Only three countries — Pakistan, Morocco and the Philippines — were in the lower-middle income category. Among the neighbouring countries of Pakistan only Iran participated. [Source: “TIMSS 2019 Pakistan; Where to Next.”Anjum Halai, Aga Khan University, Pakistan, International Mathematics Symposium, January 2021]
TIMSS International mathematics achievement score for children 9-10 in 2019: 328, ranking second to last (compared to 625 for Singapore at the top, 297 for the Philippines at the bottom and 535 for the United States). [Source: TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center timss2019.org ]
TIMSS International science achievement score for children 9-10 in 2019: 290, ranking second to last (compared to 590 for Singapore at the top, 249 for the Philippines at the bottom and 539 for the United States).
Anjum Halai of Aga Khan University said: In Pakistan, the National Education Assessment System (NEAS1) carried out TIMSS under its supervision. In accordance with the stringent sampling regimen prescribed by TIMSS, the sample was drawn from the four provinces and the federally administered areas. It covered public and private schools including those with English, Sindhi or Urdu as their medium of instruction. In the province of Sindh, schools also have the option of Sindhi as a medium of instruction. According to the information provided by NEAS, TIMSS 2019 tests were held in 142 centers accommodating more than five thousand students of grade four but it does not provide details about which cities. Likewise, information was not available about the proportional participation of the schools from public or private sector.
Pakistan’s performance in TIMSS 2019 was dismal. Pakistan stood second from the bottom. Only 27 percent of 4th graders in the country met the low international benchmark in mathematics, 8 percent met the intermediate international benchmark, and just one percent (1 percent) met the high international benchmark. In the content domain, performance was better in the field of ‘Number’ as compared to ‘Measurement & Geometry and Data’. In other words, a majority of the students were only able to cope with very simple mathematical concepts and computations related to number operations, could solve only simple word problems and had some knowledge of simple fractions and common geometric shapes. Students could read and complete simple bar graphs and tables. However, students were not able to perform well where application and reasoning were required nor in more advanced knowledge areas of mathematics. The five highest-performing East Asian countries produced the highest percentages of students reaching the Advanced International Benchmark. More than half of fourth grade students reached the Advanced International Benchmark in Singapore (54 percent), and one-third or more did so in Hong Kong SAR (38 percent), Korea (37 percent), Chinese Taipei (37 percent), and Japan (33 percent). In terms of performance relative to other technologically less developed countries, Saudi Arabia yielded 51 percent at the low international benchmark, 23 percent at intermediate, 6 percent at high, and 1 percent at advanced.
Of note, Iran, in the same geographical region, yielded 68 percent at the low international benchmark, 39 percent at intermediate, 13 percent at high, and 2 percent at advanced. Looking at average mathematics achievement by gender “Fourth grade boys had higher average achievement than girls in close to half of the 58 participating countries. More specifically, girls had higher average achievement (statistically significant) than boys in four countries, there was gender equity in average mathematics achievement in 27countries, and boys had higher average achievement than girls in 27 countries (although the differences were small)”. It is noteworthy that in Pakistan where access to education is skewed in favor of boys, TIMSS 2019 results showed that girls performed better than boys; however, the difference was not statistically significant.
Education Spending in Pakistan
Education expenditures: 2.9 percent of GDP (2017) (compared to 5 percent of GDP in the United States and 7.6 percent of GDP in Norway). Compared with other countries in the world, Pakistan ranks 142nd. Education expenditures: 14.5 percent of government budget (2017). [Source: World Bank; CIA World Factbook, 2020]
At one time the Pakistan government spent a tenth on education what did on defense. Now its spends about half on education what it does on the military, which is due in part to the fact that the military owns land and businesses and generates income from that. Pakistan once ranked in the bottom five nation in terms of money spent on education as a percentage of their overall budget but now is in the bottom 25 percent.
Seventy to eighty percent of budgets go into employee salaries, mostly for teachers. In the 2000s, about 90 percent of Pakistan’s school budgets went to pay for the meager salaries of teachers. Little was left over for textbooks or even furniture. In 2003, public expenditure on education was estimated at 1.8 percent of GDP, or 7.8 percent of total government expenditures. Aid for the United States in the early 2000s included US$100 million over five years to help improve education. At that time Pakistan spent only 2.7 percent of GDP on education, compared to 4 percent on the military and 7 percent to service the governments debt.
According to the Woodrow Wilson Center: “The salary budget eats into the budget for operating and maintaining schools. The underfunding and underutilization of this budget explains why schools in Pakistan are often in poor, even dangerous, conditions. Children are expected to clean the school. The non-salary budget (NSB) funds the maintenance of school facilities, basic equipment and furniture like desks, minor building repairs and improvements, textbooks and teacher supplies, electricity bills, and fuel costs for district education officials conducting oversight visits. [Source: “Pakistan’s Education Crisis”, Woodrow Wilson Center, July 2016 ==]
“According to a World Bank publication, Achieving Universal Primary Education by 2015: A Chance for Every Child: “Relatively abundant research indicates that books and other learning materials are highly cost-effective complementary inputs in the learning process. Although less extensively researched, teacher development and supervision, system management, student learning assessment, school maintenance, and other items clearly are also important elements in quality education systems. Yet most countries find that the pressure of teacher salaries means the budget for these other items in constantly squeezed.” ==
Around 10 percent or less of budgets now go into the NSB, next to a global standard of 15 to 25 percent. More interesting, provinces are now putting schools — through parent-teacher councils — in charge of spending these funds. In Punjab, the schools are then held accountable for maintaining cleanliness and supplying and repairing furniture. ==
Salary Expenditure as Percentage of Total Education Expenditure:
Balochistan: 83 percent in 2010; 71 percent in 2014.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa: 77 percent in 2010; 68 percent in 2014.
Punjab: 82 percent in 2010; 82 percent in 2014.
Sindh: 48 percent in 2010; 83 percent in 2014. ==
Non-Salary Expenditure as Percent of Total Education Expenditure:
Balochistan: 13 percent in 2010; 9 percent in 2014.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa: 3 percent in 2010; 7 percent in 2014.
Punjab: 10 percent in 2010; 10 percent in 2014.
Sindh: 42 percent in 2010; 11 percent in 2014. ==
Pakistan Spends More — and Actually Quite A Lot — on Education
According to the Woodrow Wilson Center: “Pakistan actually spends a lot on education: 17 to 28 percent of provincial budgets this year. Pakistan’s military budget is not much larger than its education budget. Pakistan has budgeted a total of US$7.5 billion (790 billion Pakistani rupees) on education for fiscal year 2016.13 The figure is more than double the size of its US$3.5 billion (304 billion rupees) total education budget in fiscal year 2010. This is the combined value of the four provincial budgets (representing Pakistan’s four provinces) plus a small amount that is allocated at the federal level. The federal budget is for higher education (universities) and schools in the capital city of Islamabad. [Source: “Pakistan’s Education Crisis”, Woodrow Wilson Center, July 2016 ==]
“Most provinces have more than doubled their budgets since 2010 — the year that authority over education and several other social sectors “devolved” from the federal government to the provinces. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, which border Afghanistan, have nearly tripled their budgets. Poorly governed Sindh has nearly octupled its rupee budget — from US$230 million to US$1.7 billion. Punjab, which has always had the largest allocation, has doubled its budget. Pakistan sets aside almost as much for education as it does for the military. The military budget for fiscal year 2016 is US$8.2 billion (860 billion rupees), which is close to the US$7.5 billion (790 billion rupees) budgeted for education.19 The military budget represents 2.9 percent of Pakistan’s GDP. The education budgets total 2.7 percent of GDP. ==
“There are more government teachers in Pakistan than active duty personnel in the Pakistani military, at 730,13126 and 643,80027 respectively. The total number of teachers in Pakistan (including private schools) also exceeds the total strength of the Pakistani military (including reservists and paramilitary), at 1,461,74428 and 1,460,80029 respectively. This is only teachers, and does not include non-teaching staff such as education department employees at the provincial, district, and sub-district levels, or other school staff like chowkidhars (gatekeepers) that schools are required to have. According to one estimate, there is one non-teaching education sector employee for every four teachers.
“Fifty-five percent of government employees in KP belong to the education department. Fifty-two percent of Balochistan’s government salaries go to education. Provinces do not necessarily spend the amounts they budget. KP and Balochistan have spent almost 100 percent of the budgets since 2010. Punjab spends around 90 percent and Sindh is around 80 percent. A very tiny proportion of what Pakistan spends comes from foreign donors.Parents in Pakistan spend another US$8 billion on private education, which is more than state spending.39 If one includes private spending, national expenditure on education doubles to at least US$15 billion, crossing the 4 percent of GDP mark.” Moreover, “many students opt for low-cost private schools. Private expenditure is not included in international comparisons because it is difficult to track.” ==
“A higher percentage of GDP spent on education shows a higher government priority for education, but also a higher capacity of the government to raise revenues for public spending, in relation to the size of the country’s economy.” Pakistan raises only 9 percent of its GDP in taxes. Dedicating 4 percent of that to education is a tall order, given other needs such as health, security, and roads. All of these things also help schools function properly and ensure that schoolchildren have a future. ==
“Another way to look at education spending is as a percentage of the country’s budget. UNESCO recommends that countries spend 15 to 20 percent of their budgets on education. Through this lens, Pakistan appears to be over-spending. Pakistani provinces spend 17 to 28 percent of their budgets on education. The global average in 2012 was 13.7 percent.”
Corruption, Mismanagement and Education Spending in Pakistan
According to the Woodrow Wilson Center Those who want to fix “Pakistan’s Education Crisis” must understand how the budget is spent, rather than how much is spent.Pakistan’s education challenge is not underspending. It is misspending. Without reforms, new money is likely to end up feeding cronyism and corruption, rather than making a difference that children can feel. Reducing the public discussion to budget numbers — and worse, expressed in a way that most people don’t understand, as relative to GDP — distracts from a more relevant, qualitative discussion about where the budget for education goes. [Source: “Pakistan’s Education Crisis”, Woodrow Wilson Center, July 2016 ==]
A former education secretary for Sindh sums up the situation: “The existing budget has huge leakages. The school construction and the repair and maintenance contracts, like other construction works contracts, are commission-based. Fixed commissions [kickbacks] to the engineer and government departments for construction work are as high as 40 percent. Contracts for construction schemes are largely influenced by political representatives. “The return you get on the huge salary budget is also very limited. Many of Sindh’s 144,000 teachers remain absent a few days in a week or don’t come to school for months. There are instances where they pay someone else to work in their place and they work elsewhere. The situation may have slightly improved after the introduction of the biometric [verification] system for teachers’ attendances; however, the situation of the public education system remains weak on multiple fronts. ==
The “development” budget is intended for building and rehabilitating new schools. According to the Woodrow Wilson Center: “Despite the need for new schools, provinces often spend only half of their budgets allocated for that purpose. But they accept millions in foreign aid for the same purpose. The expenditure rate varies widely each year. The broken budget process makes it so that funds in this category do not meet needs and, instead, provide plenty of opportunities for misallocation by politicians who want to reward supporters and allies. [Source: “Pakistan’s Education Crisis”, Woodrow Wilson Center, July 2016 ==]
“The development budget is not allocated based on planning. For example, in the United States, the Department of Education prepares a budget request based on specific, planned needs. In Pakistan, finance ministries tend to allocate the budget in bulk each year, such as for fifty schools without a specific justification. Over the course of the year, the Chief Minister trades these funds for political cooperation from treasury-related MPAs ( members of provincial assembly) and to get support from independent MPAs. School-building contracts, like all infrastructure work, generate profits for both contractor and the MPA involved, besides creating teaching jobs that the MPA can fill. One official said: “For the past 60 years, schools have not been built based on need but to provide jobs. It’s purely on a political basis.” Others stress the problems that occur in the contracting process. According to the SAHE report:“In Balochistan funds provided to Members of the provincial assembly [MPA] are mostly used in the construction of education institutions whose feasibility has not been evaluated. Mostly the incentive is to give the contract to a favorite.”
Muhammad Anwar, who once worked in USAID’s KP/FATA office in Islamabad and now heads the Centre for Governance and Public Accountability, further explains:“Legislators influence the tendering process and contractors know whose projects they are bidding on. Provincial assembly members can say contractors are corrupt to get them out of the bid or threaten to audit if they don’t cooperate later. There are lots of opportunities for corruption and embezzlement.”
“As a result, there are more schools in areas represented by senior politicians while other populations are neglected. There are five universities being built in Nowshera right now, the district of KP’s Chief Minister. Meanwhile, in Tor Ghar, which was a tribal area until 2011 and is the smallest district in Pakistan, there is not a single girls’ high school because no powerful MPA is from there. Similarly, in Sindh, some villages have several schools while others have none. But the budget is ultimately underspent because the provinces get the money too late in the year. According to Naveed: “Underutilization is not just because they don’t know how to spend it, but also because the provinces never get the money. The federal government always overpromises and underfunds.”
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (tourism.gov.pk), Official Gateway to the Government of Pakistan (pakistan.gov.pk), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022