ISLAMABAD (June 05 2010): Public expenditure on education as percentage to GDP is lowest in Pakistan as compared to other countries of the South Asian region, revealed Economic Survey 2009-10. According to the Survey, Bangladesh allocated 2.6 percent of the GDP for education, India 3.3 percent, Indonesia 3.5, Iran 5.2, Malaysia 4.7, Nepal 3.2, Pakistan 2.1, Thailand 4.5 and Vietnam 5.3 percent of GDP.

Pakistan allocated 2.5 percent of GDP during 2006-07, 2.4 percent in 2007-08, 2.1 percent in 2008-09 and 2 percent in 2009-10, which shows persistent decline. It is widely acknowledged that education is the single most important factor, which contributes to poverty alleviation. Education plays an overarching role and has a cross cutting impact on all aspects of human life. It is a vital investment for human and economic development. Unfortunately, Pakistan's standing on this front has historically remained poor.

With public spending on education as a percentage of GDP amongst the lowest in the chosen sample, the outcome with regard to literacy level is not surprising. While the literacy rate has improved gradually over a period, Pakistan's indicators on this front continue to rank at the bottom of global ranking. Within the region, only Bangladesh has a worse outcome on both indicators, spending by the public sector as well as literacy rate. Nepal spends a substantial fraction more than Pakistan on education, while its literacy rate is marginally higher.

Given this dismal state of affairs, Human Capital Development has been accorded amongst the highest priorities in the government's Nine-Point Plan of 2008. The poor quality of existing learning environment is evident from the fact that a large number of schools are missing basic infrastructure ie 37.7 percent schools up to elementary level are without boundary wall, 33.9 percent without drinking water, 37 percent without latrines and around 60 percent schools are without electricity. For higher accessibility of education particularly for girls in low income household and to enhance the enrolment, existing schools should be upgraded with the provision of necessary infrastructure to improve both output and quality of education.

According to the latest Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Survey 2008-09, the overall literacy rate (age 10 years and above) is 57 percent (69 percent for male and 45 percent for female) compared to 56 percent (69 percent for male and 44 percent for female) for 2007-08. The data shows that literacy remains higher in urban areas (74 percent) than in rural areas (48 percent), and is more prevalent for men (69 percent) compared to women (45 percent). However, it is evident from the data that overall female literacy is raising over time, but progress is uneven across the provinces. When analysed provincially, literacy rate in Punjab stood at (59 percent), Sindh (59 percent), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (50 percent) and Balochistan at (45 percent). The literacy rate of Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has improved considerably during 2007-08 to 2008-09.

According to the data, the overall school attendance, as measured by the Net Enrolment Rate (NER) for 2008-09 was 57 percent as compared to 55 percent in 2007-08. All the provinces have shown an increasing trend, with Sindh recording the highest increase, followed by both Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as well as Balochistan.

Nationally, the Gross Enrolment Rate (GER), sometimes referred to as the participation rate, which is the number of children attending primary school (irrespective of age) divided by the number of children who ought to be attending, in case of both male and female saw no change and remained at 91 percent between 2007-08 and 2008-09. Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have shown noticeable increase in the respective period.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010