Govt urged to scale up education financing to 4pc of GDP

Islamabad:“Education cannot be treated as a commodity delegated to private sector rather it is a fundamental right guaranteed by state, for which it must be held accountable”, stressed speakers at a policy dialogue titled ‘Citizen’s Agenda for Gender-Responsive, Inclusive, and Resilient Education’ organised by Society for Access to Quality Education (SAQE) during the 15th annual convention. The theme was ‘People’s Agenda for Transforming Education; from Silos to Systems.’

Zehra Arshad, executive director, SAQE highlighted that addressing the education emergency requires inclusive policy planning with every stakeholder meaningfully engaged and guided by up-to-date gender-disaggregated data. She stated, “Political will remains central to ensuring access to quality education and urged the adoption of a ‘Charter of Education’ to build consensus on long-term education policies.” She called on the government to commit to scaling up education financing to a minimum of 4 per cent of GDP, compared to the current 1.9 per cent, and significantly increase development budget allocations to catalyse inclusive education transformation.

State has guaranteed right to education for every child, thus government, state and legislators must be held accountable for the education emergency”, said Huma Chughtai, Member National Assembly. She urged for the adoption of “Charter of Education” to synergise efforts from every actor for sustainable solution of the Education Emergency.

Harris Khalique, President of Board of SAQE, pointed out that while Pakistan constitutes 4 per cent of the world’s population, it accounts for 11 per cent of the global out-of-school children population.

He noted that political parties have repeatedly committed to scaling up education financing to 4% of GDP, but the allocation remains at 1.9 per cent. “Committing to 4 per cent of GDP allocation to education is the first step toward ensuring justice for every child,” he remarked.

Muhammad Ali Kemal, Chief SDGs, Planning Commission emphasised on addressing leakages in education financing along with overall investment in education. He urged for ensuring universal child registration so every child and their rights are acknowledged.

Dr Shahid Soroya, Director General, Pakistan Institute of Education informed that National Education Policy Framework has been developed with consensus of provincial authorities to effectively devolve education policy planning to grassroot level and ensure policies reflect local needs.