'Education basic right, not commodity'

Education cannot be treated as a commodity delegated to the private sector rather it is a fundamental right guaranteed by the state, for which it must be held accountable.

This was stated by speakers at a policy dialogue titled "Citizen's Agenda for Gender-Responsive, Inclusive, and Resilient Education" organised by the Society for Access to Quality Education (SAQE) during the 15th Annual Convention.

SAQE Executive Director Zehra Arshad 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 that "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.