Financing Education in Pakistan: The Impact of Public Expenditure and Aid on Educational Outcomes

Abstract

The role played by government authorities and international community in development of education within Pakistan.

The paper aims to understand the impact on educational sector within Pakistan as a result of state and donor funding and employs trend analysis for two decades spanning from 1990 to 2010. The trends indicate that although Pakistan has been able to show improvements within retention, enrollment and literacy rates there is doubt over the sustainability of these trends. Public spending breakdown reveals that Pakistan spends a greater proportion towards defense and in servicing debt whereas less than regional average is being spent on education. Although donor involvement within the country is noteworthy, lack of commitment by policy makers hinders progress in the educational sector. Low quality of education within Pakistan is attributable to complicated government structures, under allocation of resources and lack of appropriate infrastructure.  The authors believe that donor aid has played a significant role in enhancing the state of education within Pakistan since the 1990s by influencing the government structure and policy priorities. However, evidence suggests that donor aid has not been able to impact budgetary priorities which contribute towards the inability of the country to achieve universal primary enrollment. The report concludes that Pakistan needs to allocate a more resources towards the development of the educational sector so that it can meet its universal primary enrollment target.

Publishing Year: 2008

Attached File:

RECOUP-Pakistan-WP42.pdf - Download