There is a dire need to spend more budgetary funds on education sector, said Ismail Bawany, Trustee of Aisha Bawany Academy in a statement here on Thursday. He said Pakistan had allocated only 2.3 per cent of the budget for education which was 0.3 per cent less than in 1999. Nine per cent of government spending is on education, placing Pakistan 113th amongst 120 countries on the education development index. He said according to a global monitoring society, Pakistan spends seven folds more on its military than on primary education and has the second highest number of out of school children in the world” he further added that “”Education could eliminate the consequences of the economic crisis, reducing the long-term impact of the crisis on growth and help to achieve a more robust long term growth”. On the other hand countries like India spends 4.1% of GDP, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka spend even more on education. According to one recent report Pakistan lags behind Nepal when it comes to female education. Bawany said if reforms are not made to correct the education system Pakistan can face a very serious situation in the coming years.
