25.08.2013 Education, not a priority
Budgetary allocations for education show lack of political commitment
By Sajjad Malik
In terms of commitment and spending, education sector traditionally stands at the lowest rung of priorities of politicians and bureaucrats in Pakistan. The present governments, federal and provincial, are not much different from the previous when it comes to improving the state of public education. Some of the parties made tall promises during election campaign before May 11 polls to invest in education for building a quality human capital. It seems they have forgotten all this and once in power they think in the same rotten pattern which helps strengthen the “national security state” syndrome at the cost of millions of “brilliant youth” who are utterly useless to the country as majority of them are not educated or trained to contribute in the gigantic but important task of national development and progress.
The federal government used to take lead in education in the past but after the 18th amendment, the provinces have control over education, especially the primary and secondary education, as the higher education is still controlled by Islamabad through Higher Education Commission (HEC). The federal government has allocated total Rs. 67,415.07 million for education for 2013-14 fiscal which includes 46,317.39 million for current expenses and 21,097.68 million for developmental purposes.
Bulk of the money — 39 billions — will go to the higher education and given to HEC to spend for universities and scholarships. The total education budget is far below than the defence budget which is 627 billion after 15 percent increase to the previous year allocations. The education budget has also been increased from the previous 52 billion but there is no comparison between the defence and education spending of the federal government.
The provincial governments are not encumbered by the defence like expenditures and it is their primary responsibility to divert more money to education and seriously try to address the perennial issues of “quality and quantity” in education. Some of provincial governments are headed by leaders from the political parties that have been highly critical of previous regimes.
For example Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of former cricketer Imran Khan controls the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the north-west. Khan in many tv interviews and election speeches said that a uniform and quality education system will be introduced if his party won the polls.
PTI’s government allocated 83,678.09 million for education in 2013-14 budget, which includes 69,848.40 million for current and paltry 13,829.69 million for development expenditures. The total allocation is higher than the previous year but the allocation, apart from school education and higher education, also includes budget for district education and provincial programs which will eat away vital resources for basic and higher education. Another drawback in allocations is that lump-sum amounts have been placed on the discretion of finance department including 3.14 billion for School Education, 200 million for Provincial Programs, and 762 million for General Colleges without mentioning of the nature of their usage. The discretionary use of funds is highly problematic and dependent on vagaries of the disbursing officers.
In the biggest province of Punjab the total budgetary allocation in the current years for education is 73,720.58 million, which is lower than both Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, and only higher than Balochistan, which is just a fraction of Punjab in terms of population. The province has set aside 38,314.95 million for current and 35,405.63 million for development sectors. Budget books of Punjab do not provide District Education Budget, so it is not included in this figure.
While the Education budgets of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa include district budgets as well. But the Punjab education budget includes spending for Special Education, School Education and Higher Education. In Punjab, the ratio in development and current expenditures is not wide which shows that more money will be available for new initiatives.
Sindh is leading the rest of the county in education budget with 131,985.58 million. But the problems is that hefty 118,743.13 million are just for current expenses like salaries etc and only 13,242.45 million have been spared for development which also means fewer new institutions or minimal additions to existing facilities. Another serious problem with this “huge allocation” is that the current budget of education as reflected in the Budget books of Sindh also includes 519.79 million for Culture and Tourism, 3636.02 million for Health and Medical Education, 268.47 million for Antiques Department, 280.66 million for Planning and Development department and 215.39 million for Chief Minister. Deducting these bring the current budget for education to 113,822.8 million and total education budget to 127,065.25 million.
Balochistan has allocated 34 billion for education which shows the highest 42 percent increase in terms of allocation for education in any province as compared to previous years. But the problem with the province is rampant corruption and dominant tribal and religious mindset, which in the past created hurdles in the spreading education and improving its quality. Only effective and targeted use of money can help increase literacy in the province.
Pakistan’s total education budget though higher than the outgoing fiscal year is still far below the minimum 3 percent of GDP target which is considered as the first step towards official realisation of importance of education. The political bosses should know that the allocation itself is not a guarantee to mass literacy and improved higher education unless the micro managements of expenditures is done properly to account both for quantity and quality. They should realise that it is equally important to provide funds for district education officers to travel to remote areas carry out unannounced visits and monitor the teachers in villages, along with hefty allocation for setting up computer labs. Regular revision and updating of syllabus is also important to keep pace with the needs of changing world. So far it is not clear whether the new budgetary allocations for education provide any money for research to improve the syllabus.
The political parties should create liaison with the civil society which can play vital role in increasing enrolment, imparting training to the teachers and improving the standards of education. Non-profit organisation like Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) are active in education and can help government efforts. Serious efforts are needed to fulfil the constitutional requirement of providing compulsory uniform and quality education to the poor people of this country and can only be done by the joint efforts of government, media, donors and civil society.
The writer is a journalist and researcher and can be reached at sajjaad@gmail.com