Will PML-N deliver on education? The (impossible) 4pc GDP challenge for 2018
We look at what will be required by the government to fulfill its election promise.
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
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Comments (38) Closed
Jun 29, 2016 12:07pm
Excellent article with nice illustrations..!
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Jun 29, 2016 12:11pm
Sir, if most of the Pakistanies become educated, then who will vote for PML-N and PPP???
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Jun 29, 2016 12:15pm
We must increase army budget.being independent is more important
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Jun 29, 2016 12:38pm
When playtime was ends succession rises over misery...Impressive Analysis!
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Jun 29, 2016 12:47pm
In current political scenario PML (N) is the only party that can surely deliver positive results...
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Jun 29, 2016 12:54pm
All this seems only to be on paper. There is not much real spending. Whatever they spend is at least not on improving the school infrastructure, equipment, furniture, quality of staff and quality of education itself.
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Jun 29, 2016 12:56pm
If you are going to present technical data to laymen, better to avoid figures after the decimal point or round off the numbers. For example
"The allocation will require an increase of at least Rs386.676bn in one year." should be:
"The allocation will require an increase of at least Rs386 bn in one year.
"...more than 1.8 times the increase they achieved...." , should be: "....almost two times the increase they achieved...."
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Jun 29, 2016 12:56pm
Where is Gilgit Baltistan?
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Jun 29, 2016 01:22pm
Education has not been, and will not be a priority for any civilian government in Pakistan.
By keeping people jahilia, ignorant and ill-informed is the only for parties like PPP, PML-N to rule without a challenge.
Just look at the pathetic performance of the present parliament. Not much more than pitiful bleats, with massive corruption allegations; a PM+FM, absent from the country for extensive periods of time; security and law and order in disarray, foreign policies in shambles and country sinking faster and deeper under IMF loans. Pakistan has no chance of ever becoming a progressive and stable country - if the present cabal of fraudster continue to reign.
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Jun 29, 2016 01:49pm
What is the use of educating people when in the end you cannot provide them good jobs and then force them to become yellow cab drivers.
Pakistan's education system is a a pathetic state, cramming rather than internalizing forms the basis of education. I remember during my BSc students would memorize the solutions for even questions of Mathematics and Statistics. In CSS people would memorize English essays from the last 10 years, instead of trying to write an original piece.
What is the use of this kind of education where you do not really learn anything!
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Jun 29, 2016 01:55pm
Excellent and impressive. Highly appreciated.. The target set by PML-N was far too high. 3.5 would have been better and achievable as well if there had been real desire. But sorry, there is no desire for education in our society..
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Jun 29, 2016 02:00pm
in 2015-16, KP spent Rs97.54 billion on education that makes 19.99% of the total Rs487.88 billion budget
How come its 24.45%?
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Jun 29, 2016 02:15pm
@Muhammad Ali GB is the constitutional orphan!
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Jun 29, 2016 02:25pm
Futile expectations. Yes, there are political leaders in this world who are dedicated to better life for their nation, including education. Its reported that in Pakistan one in three children is out of school, there are thousands of ghost teachers collecting salary and there are schools used for warehousing (godaam) or stable for horses by influential people of many communicated. System has become so corrupt that nothing good can be expected anymore. May Almighty help people of Pakistan (Ameen).
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Jun 29, 2016 02:29pm
@ali you wrote...then who will vote for PML-N and PPP? ... My friend this sums it up very well. (So education won't be a priority for a long time).
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Jun 29, 2016 02:33pm
@Ahmed USA Really?? Wow, your concepts are very clear bro :)
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Jun 29, 2016 02:43pm
In 2013-14, the Punjab education budget was 26 per cent of the total provincial budget whereas only 18.6 per cent of the total budget in 2016-17 has been allocated for education. But your graph showing 19.22% in 2013-14?
What you have these discrepancies in your numbers?
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Jun 29, 2016 06:17pm
Good article, but leaves out the all-important private sector. Here are a couple of questions that I would love to see information about. What percentage of total education spending in Pakistan (all governments + all private sector) is from the governments? And what has been the trend in private-sector spending on education - is it increasing, stable or going down over the last few years.
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Jun 29, 2016 06:29pm
PPP has been ruling mostly from interior Sindh and look at their literacy rate and life standard compare to other parts of Pakistan.
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Jun 29, 2016 06:35pm
@Ahmed And what do you have to back up your claims,sire??
These studies were done independent sources not by some government department and they therefore don't have any incentive to lie.
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Jun 29, 2016 07:02pm
this issue is critical for the development of Pakistan. Both the quantity and quality of education needs to rise.
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Jun 29, 2016 07:13pm
Education is the key specially girls education for a bright future
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Jun 29, 2016 07:15pm
Election time promises are simply ploys to hoodwink / fool the masses. There is no real intention to improve education and literacy rates because then these sham democracy leaders cannot survive. Just look at the dismal discussions in the NA or PAs. The MNAs / MPAs are simply interested in development funds, again to fool the masses and continue with their loot and plunder of national wealth. Their other priority is salaries and perks for themselves.
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Jun 29, 2016 08:52pm
Read the comments. I have reached on reluctant conclusion that Universities must be allowed to run on full cost pricing principle in order to ensure financial and institutional autonomy. Government should ensure good and efficient governance of Universities.
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Jun 29, 2016 09:25pm
They didn't ever mean it. They just said that as an election slogan.
During the next election campaign they'll up it to 6%.
But they'll deliver even less.
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Jun 29, 2016 09:31pm
Nice article but missed a major factor, what and where the education budget is spent on.
Primary secondary and tertiary, the divide is critical.
Education may not lead to jobs in Pakistan, but basic literacy leads to smaller,healthier families , for a nation struggling with its population today, imagine 2050 when the UN says we will have 300 million citizens and still growing fast.
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Jun 29, 2016 09:33pm
This is an excellent effort. But, who has time to study and understand it when the entire team with its time and resources are being spent on Panama quagmire?
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Jun 29, 2016 11:46pm
As the picture aptly illustrates how much our PM cares about Quaid-e-Azam.
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Jun 30, 2016 12:08am
Education reforms societies and forms the intellectual and cultural base for the socio- cultural and economic as well as political development of countries that give priority to providing quality education to their children and youth. In Pakistan, the government alone cannot achieve these goals due to its limited resources and paucity of funds. The private sector especially the philanthropists should come forward and pool their resources to open, schools, colleges and universities that can provide free for all education. This experiment has been run successfully in several countries.
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Jun 30, 2016 12:46am
@ali Well if they're helping in increasing the literacy rate, i'm definitely voting for them.
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Jun 30, 2016 04:14am
@Muhammad Ali You blinked and it is gone. It was handed over to China few years ago. It is China's responsibility now.
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Jun 30, 2016 04:16am
@Combaticus Agreed with your point.
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Jun 30, 2016 05:09am
PMLN and Education???
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Jun 30, 2016 09:33am
It's just amazing. It gives anyone, a student, a researcher, a budget reporter or a common citizen the best comparative analysis in simplest simplest way. This interactive graphs are also too good. This innovation coupled with professional journalism with utmost sense of responsibility is what makes Dawn the best paper in the country. Thank you @Dawn and @Alif Ailaan for this.
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Jun 30, 2016 11:15am
The Research by Alif Ailaan usually leaves a lot to be desired.
I'll highlight just two instances here:
1. While comparing the development budget, only original allocations were compared even though the revised allocation and actual spending figures are also available which are far more relevant and will completely change the conclusion.
For example, Punjab’s development budget allocation for Education (Excl Higher Edu) was 44.161 Bn in FY2015-16 which was ~11% of the development budget but as per the budget documents, it was revised downwards during the year to 19.7 Bn which is about 4.7% of Revised total Development budget for 2015-16, and this happens every year.
The Governments play a political gimmick every year with Higher percentage allocation for Education which is then revised down significantly during the fiscal year, but instead of AlifAilan highlighting this with their research, they go along with it,
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Jun 30, 2016 11:17am
Other example;
2. The article highlights that development budget allocation for Education in KP is on a declining trend in last 2 years, it conveniently ignores the fact that 30% of KP ADP is now transferred to Local Governments (LGs) who as per Rules are supposed to spend a certain significant percentage of their budget on Education.
So, to make an equivalent comparison, AlifAilan either should have compared KP’s education budget figures by excluding this 30% to LGs or for more appropriate comparison should have included the amount expected to be spent on Education sector from the 30% of ADP transferred to LGs (Which can be easily calculated since the guidelines for LGs are available).
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Jun 30, 2016 12:42pm
PML N made Punjab the most literate province !!
Army governed Pakistan for more than 35 years directly and remaining years indirectly with full resources and power, still they achieved nothing except indulging us in more severe problems. We need to make Pakistan more literate so people become aware of benefits of democracy to prevent further involvement of army
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Jun 30, 2016 02:01pm
Its unfortunate that during discussions on budget, none of the parties spoke about our education spending being the lowest in the region. The Federal Education minister has hardly ever made any noise
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