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ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has allocated the highest amount for education earmarking 21.2 per cent of the total budget followed by Sindh with 19.4 percent and Punjab 17.5 percent for the financial year 2017-18, comparison of provincials budgets revealed.

According to the budget documents, KP earmarked Rs 127.9 billion for education sector, which is 21.2 per cent of its total budget of Rs 603 billion. The Punjab government has earmarked Rs 345 billion for education which is 17.5 per cent of the total budget outlay of Rs 1.970 trillion; and Sindh has earmarked Rs 202 billion for education which is about 19.4 per cent of the budget outlay of Rs 1.04 trillion.

The Punjab government has increased the total education budget by 10.29 percent (Rs32.2 billion) from fiscal year 2016-17. Out of the total allocation for education, around 13 per cent (Rs82.6 billion) has been earmarked as development budget.

The Sindh provincial government has given top priority to education in the budget 2017-18 with an increase of 24 per cent allocation. A total of Rs 202 billion has been earmarked for education department in the budget, a huge jump from its previous allocation of Rs163 billion. Sindh government has earmarked Rs21 billion for education in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) of Rs344 billion which is 6.1 percent.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government earmarked Rs 127.91 billion for education sector in the fiscal budget 2017-18 increasing it by 18 percent against the outgoing year. KP government has earmarked Rs 20.32 billion for education in the ADP of Rs208 billion which is 9.7 percent.

The federal government has earmarked Rs90.516 billion for Education Affairs and Services in the federal budget for 2017-18 against the revised allocation of Rs 84.707 billion for the current fiscal year, showing an increase of around 6 percent.

Further, Rs 95.8 billion has also been earmarked for Higher Education Commission (HEC) including Rs 35.6 billion under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and Rs60.2 billion for recurrent budget for next fiscal year as compared to Rs 79.5 billion for the current fiscal year showing an increase of around 18 percent.

The country’s public expenditure on education as percentage of the GDP is 2.3 per cent for the outgoing fiscal year, ranking it at the lowest level amongst the South Asian countries of the region. Education is a provincial subject after the 18th Constitutional Amendment and the federal government funds mainly higher education.

Literacy rate declined from 60 percent to 58 percent during the outgoing financial year. The overall Net Enrollment Rate (NER) at the primary level for the age group at national/provincial 2015-16 recorded at 54 percent as compared to 57 percent in 2013-14 showing a decline of 3 percent.

NER indicates that amongst the provinces, only Sindh remained stable with 48 percent while Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa declined from 64 percent to 59 percent and 54 percent to 53 percent. Balochistan has witnessed a significant decline from 39 percent in 2013-14 to 33 percent in 2015-16. The overall Gross Enrollment Rate at the Primary level for the age group at national/provincial 2015-16 was recorded at 87 percent as compared to 90 percent in 2013-14 showing a decline of 3 percent.