Economic Survey 2020-21: Expenditure on education stands at 1.5pc of GDP

Islamabad: Pakistan’s literacy rate is stagnant at 60 percent in 2019-20 since 2014-15, while cumulative education expenditures by the federal and the provincial governments in fiscal year 2020 stood at 1.5 percent of the GDP as compared to 2.3 percent of the GDP in fiscal year 2019, says the Economic Survey 2020-21.

The survey noted that according to the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) district-level survey 2019-20, the literacy rate of population (10 years and above) is stagnant at 60 percent in 2019-20 since 2014-15.

The literacy rate is higher in urban areas (74 percent) than in rural areas (52 percent).

Province wise analysis suggests that Punjab has the highest literacy rate, with 64 percent followed by Sindh with 58 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (excluding merged areas) with 55 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including merged areas) 53 percent and Balochistan 46 percent.

Cumulative education expenditures by the federal and the provincial governments in fiscal year 2020 stood at 1.5 percent of the GDP as compared to 2.3 percent of the GDP in fiscal year 2019.

Expenditures on education had been rising gradually till 2018-19, but in 2019-20 education-related expenditures witnessed a decrease of 29.6 percent i.e. from Rs868 billion to Rs611.0 billion.

The survey noted that the education-related expenditures witnessed a decline in fiscal year 2020 due to closure of educational institutes amid country wide lockdown and decrease in current expenditures (other than salaries) due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, as a result of Covid-19 crisis, there was an increase in expenditure of other social sectors i.e. health, natural calamities and other disasters, Benazir Income Support Programme, Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal etc.

The Gross Enrolment Rates (GER) at the primary level excluding Katchi (prep) for the age group 6-10 years at the national level during 2019-20 declined to 84 percent as compared to 91 percent in 2014- 15.

Province wise data suggests that GER is declined in all provinces i.e. Punjab witnessed declined from 91 percent in 2014-15 to 84 percent in 2019-20, Sindh from 79 percent to 71 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (excluding merged areas) from 92 percent to 89 percent, and Balochistan from 73 percent to 72 percent.

The Net Enrolment Rates (NER) at the national level during 2019-20 declined to 64 percent as compared to 67 percent in 2014-15.

Province wise comparison reveals that, the NER in Punjab and Balochistan remained stagnant at 70 percent and 56 percent respectively, while decline in the NER has been observed in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (excluding merged areas), where NER decreased from 61 percent to 55 percent, and 71 percent to 66 percent, respectively.

The NER is either stagnant or decreasing due to the fact that 32 percent of children aged 5-16 years are currently out of school at national level.

The percentage is highest in Balochistan with 47 percent followed by 44 percent in Sindh, 30 percent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (excluding merged areas), and 24 percent in Punjab.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021