Poor budgetary funding makes EFA goals unattainable

Though the government has been claiming to achieve the goals set for achieving 100 percent literacy under the Education for All (EFA), yet the independent surveys along with donor agencies like Unicef and Unesco describe that the Government of Pakistan would not be able to attain the EFA targets.
Presently, according to government's statistics the literacy rate in the country is plus 50 percent while Unicef, Unesco etc, say it is below 50 percent. However, if the government does not show political will, the country won't be able to achieve 100 percent literacy rate by 2015, they said.
Nevertheless, the government is learnt to have decided that as a first step it would introduce a bill in the Parliament regarding compulsory primary education, otherwise those parents who failed in sending their children to schools would be punished.
Punjab Minister for Literacy and Non-formal Education, Hussain Jahanian Gardezi has claimed that the government would allocate six percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) for education sector in the next financial budget.
The minister said that the previous governments ignored the education sector that's why it could not get priority, however, the present regime for the first time would be increasing allocations raising its share from the present two percent to six percent.
He also claimed that the government would achieve the goals of Education for All (EFA) and also get 100 percent literacy by 2015 in the country.
Private Schools Management Association President Kashif Mirza claimed that there were as many as 17 million private schools in the country providing education to students while there were more than half million teachers attached with them.
While, according to Education Watch General Secretary Abida Mehmood, the government claims of achieving EFA goals and improving the lot of schools were false. The Punjab government's allocation of Rs 21 billion and their spending for missing facilities were going into drain as no visible change/improvement was on the ground, she feared.
She alleged that there was not a single school where the government could meet missing facilities.
While, according to Punjab Education Minister Imran Masud, the provincial government was spending a record Rs 65 billion during the current fiscal year on the education sector in the province, along with earmarking Rs 21 billion to meet the missing facilities of schools.