Punjab University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Mujahid Kamran’s demand that government must allocate at least four percent of GDP to education for eradication of illiteracy is a good and a very important piece of advice. Reportedly, Pakistan is spending only 0.1 or 0.2 percent of its GDP on research and development per year, which is far less compared to such spending by other countries in the world. The education sector is one of those areas that have faced government’s neglect for the last seven decades.
Despite an increase in the 2015-16 education budget Pakistan’s current expenditure on education is the lowest in South Asia. According to the latest estimate, Pakistan’s literacy rate is 59.98 percent that is the lowest amongst the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries except Afghanistan. The statistics at the provincial level are also not very encouraging. Punjab has a net enrollment rate of 64 percent at the primary level, while the literacy rate for males is 71 percent, and 52 percent for females. The net enrollment rate at the primary level in Sindh is 48 percent, while the literacy rate is 67 percent for males and 43 percent for females. The net enrollment rate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the primary level is 54 percent. The literacy rate is 72 percent for males and 36 percent for females.
