RIP:Education!Why our government needs to spend more on education?. Here are the stark realities which tell us why we should invest more education sector.Here are some facts we must keep in mind before jumping to hasty conclusions/giving a final verdict :
1-23 million children are still out of school(UNICEF,DAWN)
2.'12.5 -14 million children in Pakistan are involved in labour'.(DAWN,ILO,UNO)
3.An estimated 1.5 million children live on the streets of Pakistan, according to various numbers from government surveys and private organisations.(Al-Jazeera)
4.According to a report submitted by Ministry of Planning and Development in the National Assembly of Pakistan, about 29.5% Pakistani lived below the poverty line which translates into 55 million people.
5.On GII Pakistan is at the bottom.We can improve our position by spending on research and development but govt seems unwilling to invest in R&D. HEC budget in 2018= Rs. 35 bn
HEC budget in 2020= Rs. 29 bn
Education Affairs (EA) in 2018= Rs. 97 bn
EA budget in 2020= Rs. 83 bn
EA budget increased this year by Rs 5 bn, but is still 14 bn less than 2018. This is from a party that promised education as number 1 priority!The government earmarked Rs 77.262 billion for Education Affairs and Services in the federal budget for 2019-20 against the revised allocation of Rs 97.155 billion for the current fiscal year, showing a decrease of around 20.5 percent. The government also reduced the budgetary allocation for higher education sector. Pakistan's public expenditure on education as percentage to GDP is estimated at 2.4 percent in fiscal year 2018-19, which is the lowest in the region.
6.Education is the basic right of every child .Article 25-A in our constitution promises that every child shall get education and govt will ensure it.
7.Our economy is not independent of loans and if we want to achieve self-reliance ,we must work on capacity building so that we rely on our own resources and develop them.Capacity building is not possible without spending on human resource to convert people into experts in this age of knowledge economy where human capital really matters.In developed world there are 3000 PhDs per one million population.
8.Provincial governments don't have the required capacity to deliver on education.Federal govt must assist them.(18th Amendment)
