Study- DEFENSE AND EDUCATION BUDGET OF PAKISTAN

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Perceptor Compiled and Research Report

       The panel at ‘The Perceptors’ observed a debate in media that allocation of Pakistan’s education budget is  suffering a decline as the same amount is being eaten up by the defense requirements of the country. A study and research was conducted to find the facts as military would always decline and its COAS stated that even money allocated for defense in Kerry Lugar Bill may also be utilized for civilian uplift purpose. The below table shows a comparison of Defence Budget and Education Budget versus National Budget for the last ten years.

      It clearly indicates continuous decline in defense budget but despite reducing Defence Budget from 3.9% of GDP to 2.4% (1.5% GDP saving to Government), The Education Budget also shows a down ward trend instead of increasing,  from 2.49% of GDP in 2007/2008  to 0.9% in 2011/2012. This leads the panel to an obvious question if education is a priority then why funds saved from Defence Budget has not been diverted to Education Budget .On other side there has been an increase in non developmental budget which leads to a conclusion that all sacrifices from legitimate requirements of a  country in defense and education sector are being diverted to fulfill the government expenditures. (See Below)

COMPARISON BETWEEN DEFENCE AND EDUCATION BUDGET OF PAKISTAN

These figures have been taken from different sources which include Pakistan Economic Surveys published by Ministry of Finance, Brookings, Asia Foundation and Defence sources.

FOLLOW UP ( 5  May)

         Based on the study the editor of the site received number of feed backs through emails etc. Main point  raised was that the decrease in education budget  for years  2010/2011 and 2011/12 is because of shifting of education budget from federal to provinces. The point was valid and “The preceptor group” was asked to carry out further research. The out come is as under:

1.  The efforts put in by provinces towards education had no relation  to their population or area.
2.  The budget allocated for education was ill planed and did not reach to education institutions.
3.  Rate of corruption remained high on education budget spending.
4.   It is not only budget figures but media reports may also be studied to find facts.
5. Important statistics given with source for readers to draw their opinion

The above outcome is based on following data:

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Punjab

         http://www.columnpk.com/punjab-budget-2011-12-announced-detailed-report/

               http://www.pildat.org/publications/publication/pap/ContoursofPunjabBudget2011-2012.pdf

ü  Government College University (GCU) Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Ikramul Haq said that the Punjab government had focused more on the primary and secondary education sectors in the budget, neglecting the allocation of budget for higher education.

                   http://ilm.com.pk/education-news/punjab-education-budget-2011-2012/

Punjab education budget up by Rs0.8 bn

Khalid Khatak’s report

ü  The Punjab government has earmarked Rs23.9 billion for the province’s education sector under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2011-2012. The present development allocation for the sector is substantially low when compared to revised allocation for the year 2010-2011, which remained only Rs13.8 billion as against original allocation of Rs23.1 billion. However, a meagre increase is noticed if the current development allocation of Rs23.9 billion is compared with Rs23.1 billion, the last year’s original development budget for the education sector. The provincial budget for fiscal year 2011-2012 was announced on Friday.According to the break-up of development budget 2011-2012 for education sector, Rs14.5 billion has been allocated for School Education, Rs6.5 billion for Higher Education, Rs0.5 billion for Special Education, Rs0.8 billion for Literacy & Non-Formal Basic Education and Rs1.6 billion for Sports. In the last fiscal year 2010-2011, Rs14.05 billion was allocated for School Education, while revised

ü  According to him the Punjab government is spending Rs 4 billion on four Daanish Schools when thousands of public sector schools in the province are without basic facilities of boundary walls and electricity etc. Nonetheless the project has been facing immense criticism too by academic circles who fear it will not serve the purpose of promoting the cause of imparting quality education at a wider level

http://stateofeducationinpunjab.blogspot.com/

If compared to the ADP 2010-2011, size of the upcoming ADP 2011-2012 for education sector is likely to be a bit small if the government fully incorporates recommendations of the sub-committee. The total allocation for education sector in 2010-2011 was Rs 23.1 billion including allocation for sports sector. The school education had received Rs 14.05 billion, college education Rs 6.3 billion, special education Rs 500 million, literacy & non-formal education Rs 800 million and Rs 1.6 billion for sports in ADP 2010-2011. http://pakmed.net/college/forum/?p=9564

 Pakistan is at the bottom of those countries list, which allocate the lowest amount of its budget for education, as less than 1.5 per cent of the federal budget is consumed on education in the country.
This was stated by University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar Vice Chancellor Imtiaz Hussain Gilani at a ceremony organised by the PFL Education here at a local hotel on Saturday.
He said we spend on our education even less than most of the third world countries including Nepal and Bhutan.
He suggested the government to allocate at least 3 per cent of our total budget for education and after this it should be decided that how much would be spent on debt servicing and defence budget. http://ilm.com.pk/education-news/pakistan-allocation-budget-for-education/

In Pakistan the budget allocated to education is low. Pakistan is now on just twelve

countries that spend less than 2 percent of GDP on education (ICG, 2004) http://www.commonwealtheducationfund.org/downloads/Pakistan%20Financing%20of%20Education.pdf

Sindh

        http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/politics/12-Jun-                2010/Rs422b-Sindh-budget-unveiled

             http://forum.pakistanidefence.com/index.php?showtopic=83280

Claiming that one-third of Punjab’s budget was spent on education, Planning and Development Secretary Tahir Ali said much of that money was spent on teachers’ salaries. Ali said provision of ‘education for all’ and ensuring equity in education were key challenges to work towards.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/359631/re-examining-education-security-states-cant-put-their-children-first/ MNA Bushra Gohar said political influences needed to be removed from the education system as this had hindered the process of teaching and learning. “Our education system is teaching hatred,” said Gohar while demanding that there be greater transparency and accountability regarding the budget spent on education. “If we continue to be a ‘security state,’ we will fail to prioritise our children.”http://tribune.com.pk/story/359631/re-examining-education-security-states-cant-put-their-children-first/ Imran Khan criticized the increase in defense budget and said that there was a need to increase in educational budget instead of defense. He noted that the expenses of President House and Prime Minister secretariat were more than the educational budget of Sindh.http://www.paktribune.com/news/print.php?id=147149 Asif said that PPP and PML-N jointly struggled against dictator and restored democracy in the country but unfortunately, the democratic government could not resolve problems being faced by the people.  He alleged that none of the government departments was functioning properly while huge subsidies were being provided to PIA, Pakistan Steel Mills and Railways which were higher than funds allocated for health and education sectors in the budgethttp://app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=145552&Itemid=129

KPK BUDGET

http://app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=141955&Itemid=205

http://www.khyberpakhtunkhwa.gov.pk/Gov/WhitePaper_2011-12.pdf

BLN BUDGET

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-17378-Balochistan-Budget-2011-12-today

http://tribune.com.pk/story/22935/rs152-billion-balochistan-budget-unveiled/

http://www.geo.tv/6-20-2009/44494.htm

The ‘18^th Amendment’ has completely devolved education to the provinces.

• Despite being the most underdeveloped province, Balochistan will reduce its development expenditure for fiscal year 2012 by 10% and spend the smallest proportion of its budget on development projects compared to any other province in the country. http://tribune.com.pk/story/193413/budget-2011-12-rs164-5b-outlay-for-balochistan/    (22 June, 2011)
• PPIU has recently developed the ‘Balochistan Action Plan’ as the interim policy document, till the formation of a complete sector plan. The Plan focuses on selected or prioritised areas of access, quality and management. Additionally the province has also prepared plans on Education for All (EFA), Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Literacy. http://unesco.org.pk/education/documents/situationanalysis/Education_Policy_Analysis_for_Balochistan.pdf (November, 2011)
• In a province with a significantly lower literacy rate of 35 per cent as compared to other provinces, an audit report has revealed embezzlement worth Rs 30 million in the Balochistan Education Department. According to the 2010-2011 Audit Report, the Directorate of Education (Schools), incurred an expenditure of over Rs17.8 million in order to purchase scientific equipment and furniture for educational institutions from various firms at the end of the financial year 2009-10. While 100 per cent payment was made to all contractors/firms on fully vouched bills, the purchases, including scientific equipment and furniture, were never received. “Payments without receipt of stores/equipment etc were tantamount to be embezzlement,” stated the audit report. The education department’s storekeeper provided a written testimony to the audit department in 2010 stating that the equipment had never been received. http://www.livenewsarticles.com/world/fraud-in-balochistan-rs30-million-embezzled-in-education-department/
• Balochistan’s Education Minister Shafiq Ahmed Khan has disclosed that there are 3,500 ghost schools in the province. According to a survey conducted by the education department, the minister told Dawn, these schools existed only on papers. http://www.pakrealestatetimes.com/showthread.php?tid=5730 (06-20-2009 )

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