Irony of Scanty Resources for Education

Education sector in Pakistan has historically been grappling with the multitude of multi-layered challenges. It has been very difficult to minutely zoom in and identify one or two most relevant issues. However, most of the... [ view full abstract ]

Education sector in Pakistan has historically been grappling with the multitude of multi-layered challenges. It has been very difficult to minutely zoom in and identify one or two most relevant issues. However, most of the analysis of overall education sector directly or indirectly points the finger at the inefficient education governance resulting in overall ineffective planning specifically resource allocation and equitable spending from the resourcing perspective. And here lies the irony.

Although fundamental, but the critical challenge faced by Pakistan is not just limited to the lack of resources/ budget for the education sector but is organically and significantly linked to the way public financing is planned, managed and monitored. Some the of critical issues in this context include inadequate engagement of legislature in the budget making process, insufficient allocations in comparison to the actual needs primarily without any deliberate and institutional effort to specifically wear gender lens, untimely fiscal flow, corruption/leakages, huge administrative expenditure, lack of citizens’ informed engagement leading to low level of accountability and transparency etc. Also the nexus remains weak between policy provisions, education date and the budgetary allocations. On the other hand, very recent data on Public Financing of Education reveals that the already nominal “development budget” mostly remains unspent more than 60 to 70%. A deliberate effort by the district and provincial governments for the optimal utilization of the allocated (available) resources can help the government re-claim the trust by the informed citizenry but also enhance the absorption capacity to manage increased budgetary allocations.