Why Educate Punjab? By Zahra Mughis

There is no premise than be considered as valid a reason to educate Punjab so the government in power has decided that there is no need for revising priorities and increasing government expenditure on public education.

The downsizing of education budget continues in Punjab. The Government of Punjab tabled its Rs. 1681 Billion budget on June 14, 2016 for the fiscal year 2016-17. A sum of Rs. 329.3 Billion has been allocated to Education which is a 19.6% share of the total budget. The allocation for education was previously Rs. 310 Billion out of the FY2015-16 Punjab budget of Rs 144.1 Billion. These figures indicate that the percentage share of education budget as decreased from 21.4 percent of the total provincial budget to 19.6 percent. This is the second consecutive budget layout by the PMLN led Government of Punjab in which education’s share has been reduced. For the fiscal year 2014-15, the education budget constituted approximately 26.4% of the total budget which was an amount of Rs. 273 Billion out of the total of Rs. 1.034 Trillion. The ADP share of education has also been reduced from 77 percent, previously, to 58 percent for the fiscal term starting on July 1, 2016.

Education which is a fundamental right of the citizens and a core building block of human development seems not to be of much significance to the Government of Punjab.13 million children between the age of five and sixteen are out of school in the province. Every twentieth public school in the province lacks basic facilities. The government can, perhaps, consider cutting its expenses on the CM House and Secretariat and invest more in education. The declining trend in budget allocation to the education sector implies the priorities of PMLN government to be focused elsewhere than human development and spread of education.

On the Human Development Index rankings chart, Pakistan falls under the Low Human Development category, standing 147th out of the 188 listed countries. Pakistan has dropped by one rank on the list since the previous report published in 2014. The country has failed to record its place in the list of Asia’s top hundred universities which has been released recently. But why educate Punjab, the home to a hundred and ten million Pakistanis? There are always metro buses and orange line trains’ track to showcase of pamphlets, flexes and electronic advertisements. What can Pakistan possibly do by educating, training and empowering a large labour force? All we would be able to achieve is some extra tons of national output, some millions of foreign exchange earned for quality exports and a few points gain in gross domestic product; does it all really matter? Why educate Punjab? It does not count if Pakistan’s unemployment rate is at an all-time high and Punjab makes the highest contribution to national economic activities given its population share and land geography. What can the ruling elites really gain if our children will be able to read and write, count and of course decode? They would be able to distinguish the right from wrong, that’s all about it. Why educate Punjab? The country is sinking in its debt trap, caught up in a vicious cycle of poverty, subject to hiking unemployment and crime rate, not utilizing its potential resources, lagged behind the world and drowned in a chronic stability slump but why educate Punjab? All is well, there are metros and transit carriers, the CM house gets uncut power supply and the deteriorating law and order is simply for the print media to stamp pages/.There is no need to educate Punjab at all.

About the writer::

Zahra Mughis is a student of Bachelors in Economics, a freelance writer & social media manager. She is affiliated with the Official Social Media Team of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, presently working as the Twitter Punjab Head.

 

by webmaster@insaf.pk (tkiadmin)