‘Education budget to be increased to 7pc of GDP’

Federal Education Minister has said the government is committed to increasing the education budget to 7% of GDP.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Education Minister Sardar Assef Ali has said the government is committed to increasing the education budget to 7 per cent of GDP under its new national education policy.

“It is imperative to boost the education budget in order to increase literacy rateand meet the millennium development goals (MDGs),” the minister said.

He was speaking at a seminar jointly organised by the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives and the Pakistan Coalition for Education here on Sunday.

“The federating units will now have to set aside substantially larger chunks of funds for education,” he said.

“The system currently in place is incapable of meeting the public needs. We will need to stop wastage of resources,” Sardar Assef remarked. He said the government was facing pressures from all directions but (in spite of this) “we have been taking initiatives and working to our optimum”.

With the 18th amendment,  curriculum development has become a provincial matter. However, the education ministry is trying to persuade the Rabbani commission to leave the job with the federation so that a uniform syllabus could be used across Pakistan, he said.

Balochistan Education Minister Tahir Mahmood said the province had a large number of ghost schools which could be utilised to improve the literacy rate. He dispelled the impression that tribal leaders were putting up hurdles in the way of education. Punjab additional secretary (education) told the seminar that his province had set aside Rs6 billion for the upgrade of educational institutions.

Mukhtar Ahmad Ali of CPDI said that public institutions and civil society will have to mount collaborative effort for bringing improvements in the education sector.

Published in The  Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2010.