Funds for education in budget: Educationists urge govt to increase funds for education in budget

Islamabad: Riphah Institute of Public Policy (RIPP) and Idara Taleem o Aghai (ITA) organised a session on budget analysis 2019-20 with a special focus on education hereThursday.Academicians, Research Scholars, Educational Scientists, Activists and related stakeholders participated in the session. Dr Rashid Aftab (Director RIPP) talked about the decrease of 21 per cent (Rs29 billion) in the Federal education budget for 2019-20. He said HEC is the only institute at federal level to look after and regularize the federal education at state level. The 19% slash in the development budget of Higher Education Commission (HEC) 2019-20 will reverse the on-going growth of educational developments in the country.The government of PTI ought to revise its educational budget plan by given the required share to this sector. Dr Rashid also influenced that, it is responsibility of the state and federal level to ensure compulsory education of every child education. The budget allocated is not enough to meet the requirement of the educational sector.One of the leading activists from Child Rights Movements, Malik Wajahat Ali emphasized on the child rights as the fundamental rights of every child. He said, There are many special laws enacted on different thematic areas by the Provinces as well as Federal Govt. for the protection of the rights of the children in Pakistan. But more work on the stated subject is required as a matter of fact to combat with the evil issues and capacity building of the society. Rahmeen Yousaf from ITA stated that, it is said in the constitution, "The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.”Policy analyst and faculty member at RIPP Kashif Zaheer Kamboh elaborated that, Pakistan's public expenditure on education as percentage to GDP is estimated at 2.4 per cent in fiscal year 2018-19, which is the lowest in the region. Without investing on public we can’t achieve the vision of Naya Pakistan. Investing in education means investing in the future of the country. Afshan Tehseen Bajwa, Dr Afzal Babar, Dr Aftab Alim and other speakers also talked on the budget and advised an increase in development budget in the educational sector.

from The News International - National http://bit.ly/31M04sf