islamabad - Engineer Baligh-ur-Rehman, minister of state for federal education and professional training, has said the government is doing a lot to invest in education sector.
Elaborating the government’s commitment and resolve to improve the education sector in the country, the minister said the UN asks for allocating 4 percent of country’s GDP and 15-20 percent of total budget to education.
He was speaking as chief guest at a seminar on “Education for All” organised at Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS).
After the education sector was devolved to provinces, in just a couple of years the education budget has been doubled, he said. For instance, the minister said, two years ago education sector budget in Balochistan was 11 percent which is now 26 percent of the entire budget of the province. Similarly, in Punjab it is 28 percent; in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa it is 27 percent and Sindh has dedicated 25 percent budget to education sector.
Regarding higher education, Rehman said the current allocation to the Higher Education Commission has been increased tremendously and current year’s releases would be more than Rs 80 billion “and this trend will keep on.”
Stressing on the importance of enhancing the quality of education, the minister said a lot of good things are coming up, for instance, the article 25-A of the constitution says that every child should be in school.
Only one percent children in Pakistan are going to vocational and technical education institutions. Aiming at specific area, the minister said technical and vocational schools are being set up to impart education in this particular area from class 6-10.