Budget 2012-13: Allocate 8 per cent for education, NSF demands

NSF Lahore chapter staged a sit-in to demand education spending be increased to 8 percent

LAHORE:

The National Students Federation (NSF) on Sunday condemned the reduction in education spending from 2 per cent to 1.8 per cent in the federal budget.

The NSF Lahore chapter staged a sit-in in front of the Lahore Press Club on Sunday to demand that education spending be increased to 8 percent of the budget.

Addressing the protestors, NSF Punjab president Arfan Chaudhry said that the PPP-led government had continued the military-led regime’s policies increasing non-productive expenditures, such as defence and debt repayment, and decreasing the educational budget.

Chaudhry said that education spending, at Rs47 billion, was one-tenth of defence spending. He said that the government did not appear serious about meeting its responsibilities under Article 25-A of the Constitution, which makes the state responsible for providing education to all. He also demanded that provincial governments raise their education budgets to 8 per cent. He said that the Punjab government had the opportunity to show that it was serious in its claims of commitment to educate all.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2012.