Pakistan:Education Budget to Increase by 50%

RAWALPINDI: A top-level meeting, chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf, Thursday adopted a roadmap to synergize knowledge in fields of science and technology with the country's requirements for fast-paced industrial development.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Governors and Chief Ministers of four provinces, AJK president, Chairman Higher Education Commission and senior officials attended the meeting.

The meeting decided to speed up the establishment of nine engineering universities with the help of Austria, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, China, South Korea and Sweden at a cost of Rs 160 to 180 billion over a period of ten years.

"The President and the Prime Minister today committed to maintaining meaningful allocations for the cause of higher education-and we expect a further 50 percent increase in allocations in the next financial year", Dr Atta ur Rehman told newsmen.

Classes at these nine universities would commence by 2008 and mark a new era for Pakistan's advancement in the fields of science and technology.

To ensure high standards of education, the meeting directed the provinces to shut down universities illegally operating in the country within three months,

Atta ur Rehman said. The universities, not imparting education up to the mark, have been directed to conform their standards to HEC-set criterion.

In case of failure to raise standards, such universities would be downgraded to colleges, he stated. The meeting also agreed on a mechanism to award finances to private universities.

Opening the meeting, the President observed that government would not only encourage the universities to align their standards with the best institutions of higher learning in the world but also make available necessary means to achieve that end.

"We have already increased the budget for higher education to Rs 22 billion (including development expenditures) this year from a mere Rs 500 million in the year 1999-2000- we have provided a strong base for equipping our human resource with the best tools of progress," he said.

The meeting decided that from now on the appointment of vice chancellors of universities would be made on the basis of recommendations of a scholars' search committee.

Musharraf assures VCs

President Musharraf Thursday said Pakistan is committed to improving the quality of higher education and equip institutions of higher learning with state-of-the-art facilities.

He was speaking to Vice Chancellors of Quaid-e-Azam University, Allama Iqbal open University, International Islamic University, Islamabad and Karakoram International University, Gilgit.

Chairman Higher Education Commission Dr. Atta ur Rehman was also present.

The Vice Chancellors apprised the President of efforts underway to improve research and academic standards at their respective institutions. They also discussed financial requirements in this regard.

The VCs included Dr. Muhammad Qasim Jan, QAU, Dr. Mahmood Hussain Butt, AIOU, Dr. Manzoor Ahmed, Rector IIU, and Dr. Aziz Ali Najam of KIU, Gilgit.

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Now this is what i'm talking about, never thought i'd say it but good stuff mushy

There are some reports of work being done to improve higher education. They also now pay professors very acceptable salaries which is one way of attracting better teaching staff.

what good is raising the budget if the feudals don't let the teachers and/or children attend?

what good is the cash if the standards of our education means a college graduate doesn't even know how to professionally type!

good descison but the money shud go where it is supposed to go

A lot of expatriate Pakistani professors here in Malaysia are returning back because they have been made lucrative offers by the HEC (Higher Education Commission) to come and teach in Pakistani universities. The money is good, and many people are being lured back.

This is a very good sign and I hope that the standards of tertiary education in Pakistan continue to grow.

Much credit to Dr. Atta- ur- Rehman. A highly educated Cambridge Univ graduate, editor of at least 5 European Journals, and winner of many national & international awards. He has been pushing for improvement in educational system for years now.

P.S.,
Just fyi, like Asif Iqbal, he is yet another Deccan imported Pakistani.

I surprised no one made the old joke about how an increase from 2 to 3 serves as a 50% increase

Anyway, its definetely a good sign that they are starting to spend money on something that desperately needs it

good step...but equal importance shud be given to primary education~

but it does becomes significant seeing that almost whole of the imncrease will be used to better university education of pakistan (and that too primarily focussed on medical and engineering sectors)

hence all the increase would be mostly eaten up by 0.1 % of our population

wat do u mean by 0.1% of population?

the ones related to technical education sector of Pakistan

A good move. Education is the key if Pakistan is to move forward in the 21st century

so wer else do u think the money is to be spent? even though they will makep up just 0.1% of population ,they will play a vry crucial role in revival of pakistans economy which means govt is indirectly spendin on the whole population!

Even then, this will go a long way in improving the standard of professionals that Pakistan produces. These days, with all this job mobility it isnt necessarily a problem that a lot of the money will go to improve engineering sectors as a lot of graduates with an engineering degree end up in Banking and Finance or other non-engineering fields

I think last yr Govt. annouced that education & books till 8th grade ll b free and books till 10th grade. A good move by I m not sure if that already been applied in Govt. schools.

jusarrived and Daoud

even for getting into an engineering college you need to complete some 12 years of schooling in the first place

and that alone will cost some Rs 500,000 to 700,000 of decent private schooling (since govt schools have lost their qualitative edge here) per child

which cant be afforded by a person on a street ....... and even if some one did manage it that son might be more likely to be out sourced to Gulf , Far East , South America or Europe

so how can this improve the life of the masses ....although it might still help us in improving our GNP since for every pound , riyal or Euro they earn would mean around 15 , 106 and 54 rupees in local currency

i have already posted that primary education shud be equally important...like asim is sayin the pak govt seams to have already taken few steps in that direction?


n 500,000 -700,000 for primary education?I din spend that much for my engg...never paid more than 1000 rs /yr as fee amount ,having studied in some of the best schools in my state...amy sure ur numbers are wrong!

you sure are lucky to pay 1000 rs a year and get quality education

here finding a decent school for kindergarden children for even Rs 1000 a month is difficult
believe me 500,000 is too much an under estimate for Pakistan

my father spent around 10,000 per month on me when I was doing my A levels


PS - I was talking about the expenditure on 12 years of education

If I remember correctly the MMA opposed this because they felt it would take kids away from their precious madrasahs

why isnt private sector pitching in..?

if I wer a pakistani ,wud be thinkin of raising funds to start a school now..not just as a social responsibility,but also as an opportunity to bcom a millionare....10,000/month/student ? wow!

I didn't hear anything about that. But that's sick if that's correct.

Also fees Hassan is talking about ae for private schools, Govt schools are much more cheap but their standards are not as high as private ones. Heard quality of education in Govt. school also been improved in recent years

the private sector is part of the problem ......if you ever visit Pakistan
you will see private schools sprawling every here and there

the problem is that since govt schools are too substandard to be a 1st choice for any parent ..................the huge student market can not be absorbed by private sector alone .......this leads to monoply in education


And yes ...there is a lot of money in this direction over here ......even university students can earn a pocket money upto 15,000 per month just by giving part time tuitions

So what is it now 1.5 percent of the national budget seriously a concrete policy on education needs to be formulated Mushy's government has been flip flopping about education policy ever since he came onto power, course of matric has been flip flopped between the orignal one and two or three new ones about 4 to 5 times, timing of exams. First the government passes the law that matric exams be taken in two parts, then two years down the line reverse that decision, further two years down the line they re-implement that decision and so fourth, I have no idea what the current position is. A good step this one but in 2 years time education should atleast be more than 5 percent of national budget and same goes for health sector because these two are what makes the crux of a nation strong.

wow..so we finally realised the importance of education after 50 years ..Great achievment indeed..though I guess it's too late, we have already produced enough Jihadis for future

Why would you think it's too late
It's too easy for arm chair critics to point fingers sitting thousands of miles away but what do you expect from a country which didn't even have a parliament building 57 years ago (started from a PARK instead)??? India does NOT even have half as poblems as us and yet their literacy rate is around 60% ( 5-10% more than us but they are improving rapidly).
We will inshallah be right up there to 80-90% in next 40-50 years

Atta ur Rehman is another one of those geniuses musharaf has brought in to the goverment.

Pakistan spends only 2.3 per cent of its Gross National Income (GNI) on education as compared to 3.6 per cent in South Asia and 3.4 per cent in low-income countries, according to the “Little green data book 2006” launched by the World Bank.

These indicators show the country is not placed comfortable in terms of public sector spending on education. Education, which is of paramount importance for human resource development, is the most neglected area in Pakistan. There are about 20 million children between five and nine years of age. But only about half of them are currently enrolled in primary school. And little girls make up much less than half of that number, according to the figures.

The country’s gross savings stand at 23.6 per cent of the Gross National Income (2004), while the consumption of fixed capital is 8.2 per cent of GNI, says the data book which represents a succinct collection of information from ‘world development indicators 2006’.

However, on a positive note, the book states that 90 per cent of the country’s total population has access to improved water sources as compared to 84 per cent in South Asia. The data shows 87 per cent of rural population and 95 per cent of urban population have access to improved water sources.

However, only 54 per cent of the total population has access to improved sanitation facilities. In urban areas this facility is available to 92 per cent while only 35 per cent of the rural population have these facilities.

Agricultural land covers 33 per cent of the land area as compared to 54 per cent in South Asia and 45 per cent in low- income countries. However, irrigated land covers 90.6 per cent of the cropland.

The publication presents a bleak picture of the state of forestry in the country. It shows the total forest area at 2.5 per cent of the land area, while annual deforestation is estimated to be 1.6 per cent.

The total known number of bird species in the country is 625, while the number of threatened bird species is 30. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) benefits index for biodiversity is calculated at 5.1 out of the prescribed range (0-100).

About the number of passenger cars in Pakistan, it says there are seven cars per 1,000 people. Carbon dioxide emission per capita is 0.7 metric tons.

The electric power consumption per capita is 408 kwh. The figure for energy import is highest in the region. It says 20 per cent of the net energy needs are met through import. Only 0.2 per cent of electricity is generated by coal.

The internal freshwater resources per capita has been measured at 345 cubic metres as compared to 1,255 per capita cubic metres in South Asia and 3,456 in the low income countries.

exactly! doing something is better than doing nothing.

there's too much negativity targeted towards the govts. im sure in the later yrs he will do something abt educating the rest of the population as well but shudnt we b thankful that at least we r starting some where. n establishing higher education standards is more imp. this money targeted n focused in this area is hardly gonna go to waste compared to if he started with educating every1 in pak at large --- coz that is a long term effort.

universities in pak have now diversified n i'm sure they r going to offer more of this diversification with this upgrading. business and IT are more popular fields these days as compared to engineering and medicine.

this is a good move. altho i wud like to see the rest of the population getting educated as well, but i'm sure this is the first step in that direction. that will come as well with time.

just ask urselves this question. if there are 5 kids n u have money to educate 1. only 1 kid out of 5 will likely finish that education n the rest will drop out half way. which kid wud u choose?

the problem with govt primary schools is that kids esp girls drop out. these kids r not the ones who plan to serve the country in a profession field in the future. therefore we need to make sure that these govt funds r not wasted. having said that, im not denying the importance of primary education either.

ppl expect things to change overnight,which obviously wont happen....even in india we are reapin benifits of the good foundation laid for higher education in 1950's..primary education is far from perfect even in our country...pakistan shud be targetting 2020-25 to achive 100% literacy n a substantial pool of skilled manpower which is realastic!

though IT is quite reletively a new concept in our education system but business has been there for ever along with medicine and engineering

though pakistanis have started to try our various other fields like stage drama , Political Science etc

but the topic of thi thread was increase in budget for educational sector (read Higher education) and even there most of the money will be spent on engineers and doctors ....... if you dont believe me then check out the most recent foreign faculty hired by HEC to teach in our universities about 3/4 th of them belong to enginerring sector

business has always been there jus like political science n stage drama but it didn't bcom popular until recently.

i hope they dont exclude IT, recognizing how important it is these days. for IT, mostly u dont need to hire top, experienced faculty staff as long as they r certified, they can teach. when it comes to business schools, most of them actually have good standards, the ones that dont will b shut down as its mentioned in the article.

this budget allocation is not just abt hring good teachers, its also abt changing the course outlines n study program standards. donno if they will but they shud concentrate on all sectors of science n technology.

that's a very myopic view of things dear...

It took us 50 years to increase the education budget a bit and at the current rate it will take centuries before we realize that problem is somewhere else. The problem is with the very constitution of this country..the problem is with the very system of this country..It's a country where from peon to the head of anti-corruption department everyone is corrupt.

Everybody knows what's the source of current economic or actually property boom in Pakistan...General's or beurocrates buying property or returnees from Europe and America buying cars and other house holds on installments doesn't mean the country is progressing..Is there some kind of industrial revolution in Pakistan or have we excelled in I.T..etc..I don't think we have.

Do you even know what the oil prices will be another 10-15 years?

What about the water shortages? In 21st century drought is threat to our economy?

Mushrraf is not there to stay forever..the day we lose him the democracy will be back to ruin this country once again and this time it would be MMA's turn....the people who have been responsible for most of our problems for decades, will be in power to screw this country completely.

Average Pakistani who has been deluded by corrupt politicians for decades is in search for panacea and now they think Sharia law or hiba...whatever, is solution of all the problems....just forget about it.

and these problems hardly make 5% of the problems Pakistan is facing or is about to face. Only A messiah can save this country..It's almost incorrigible.

100 pc literacy rate Punjab govt aim: Minister


KHANEWAL, Apr 17 (APP): Punjab Literacy and Non-Formal Education Minister Hussain Jahanian Gardezi said here Monday that government efforts are aimed at achieving 100 per cent literacy rate in the province.

Talking to newsmen in the office of the EDO Literacy, Khalid Haraj, the minister said that the Chief Minister is determined to achieve the "education for all" target.

"In this connection, the government has launched a 4-year education reforms programme in four model districts of the province, at a cost of Rs 1 billion," he said.

Under this programme people of 15 years of age and above will be imparted primary education to achieve the target.

He disclosed that a sum of Rs 350 million would be spent to set up 1000 literacy centres in 100 union councils of district Khanewal.

I agree that the education budget needs to be increased and this is exactly what the thread is about.

Otherwise you are mentioning lots of problems (no solutoins though) like corruption and all but my friend, it's not as simple as saying " Finish the corruption", "spend more on education" etc etc etc. I think almost every Pakistani knows these problems exist but where is the solution???

and these problems hardly make 5% of the problems Pakistan is facing or is about to face. Only A messiah can save this country..It's almost incorrigible.
And you really think our country can progress with this pessimism????
My point is, we know there is corruption, extremism, poverty etc but surely things are improving there and we surely do have some people who really care about the country rather than themselves.

you mean B positive

well I'm optimistic as long as Musharraf is there but the problem is that majority of Pakistanis hate him and it's fact, people have to blame themselves for all these problems.

A delegation of German academicians touring Pakistan has expressed interest in educational, business and industry collaborations between the two countries. The group is exploring the possibility of setting up an engineering university in Pakistan and ways to strengthen technical education ties between Germany and Pakistan.

The eight-member fact-finding mission told Daily Times that it would analyse the situation in Pakistan to decide about setting up an engineering university in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission. Bonn University Rector Prof Dr Matthias Winiger, who is heading the delegation, said Pakistani universities adopted British or American style of education but if a university were set up, it would have the German style of education and the key positions would be held by German people. Pakistani academicians might also be invited to join, he said, and would be trained in Germany.

He praised Pakistani researchers and said Germany would want to share expertise and enhance economic, business and industrial ties. He said Pakistani people had extraordinary expectations from the visiting delegation and thought they had brought money, which he said was not true.

The problem is you cant invest in something that isnt there. First build a system which self corrects. What makes you think the empty schools will be filled by this initiative. If i was musharraf the first thing i would do is a appoint a seperate education board. then i would also set another independent judicial commitee so the people see musharraf isnt about shady stuff. Then i would also have independent election commitee. The point would be to creat instituitions that are self correcting. In india there was a one party system run by the bjp. They made independent election commition suddenly the people got rid of a party such as that you think the people wont make the right choice. Everything else will be settled. If i was musharraf thats what i would do for the greater good. I mean what happens when musharraf dies. We start over from scratch.

English to be made compulsory from first grade: minister

Qazi says new policy will bring uniformity to education system


By Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: Federal Education Minister Lt Gen (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi said on Friday that English language training would be made compulsory from first grade in all education institutions, as directed by the new education policy being framed by the government.

He made this announcement while briefing reporters on the two-day National Educational Conference, scheduled to start on May 30. The education minister said that the new policy would bring uniformity to the country’s education system.

He said the proposed 10-year education policy would focus on enhancing literacy rates and improving education standards, which was imperative for Pakistan’s overall development. He said that a new curriculum was being introduced from first to 12th grade to meet the challenges of the current era. Examination systems were also being revamped to test the “true intelligence” of students, he said. The ministry had decided to conduct composite examination for grades nine and 10 from 2007 in Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan. The academic year across the country would start from September 1 of this year, he said.

The education minister said that Urdu would also be taught as a compulsory subject at English medium schools. Islamic studies would be taught from third grade, with the addition of another chapter on Huqooq-al-Ibad (rights of humanity). The subject would be made compulsory till 12th grade, he said. Qazi said that Computer Science, History, Geography and Pakistan Studies would be included in the national curriculum for grades six, seven and eight. The number of taught subjects would be reduced from 46 to 21, he added.

Qazi said that Pakistan and Islamic studies would be made mandatory in grades nine and 10. He said that the government had already declared free education until the 10th grade to ensure maximum enrolment in schools. The government would focus on promoting the education standards, by introducing a number of reforms through the Higher Education Commission, he said.

Qazi said that the government, under the new reform programme, was also focusing on the promotion of technical education. Vocational and polytechnic institutions were being established at the district level to develop skilled manpower to cater to requirements both at home and abroad, he said.

The education minister rejected criticism regarding the deletion of certain Quranic verses from the Islamic studies curriculum.

He said that the ministry had proposed that the government increase the education budget to four percent of GDP. He said that drinking water, electricity and other facilities would be provided to all schools across the country.

He said that Mathematics and Science would be taught in seminaries as well.

He said that he had recommended to the Finance Ministry that all primary school teachers be given teaching allowance and be paid according to their performance.