‘Unprecedented funding shows govt’s commitment to education’

Islamabad: Federal education secretary Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani has hailed the Rs25.751 billion budgetary allocation for the ministry in the upcoming fiscal year.

“This unprecedented development budget hike of over 202 percent shows the government's commitment to the cause of education,” Mr Wani told 'The News'. He said the initiatives taken by his ministry in the current financial year gave confidence to the government for such funding increase.

The federal education ministry's budget will rise from Rs8.5 billion in 2023-24 to Rs25.751 billion in 2024-25, with Rs19.815 billion (77 per cent) earmarked for nine new schemes and Rs5.936 billion (23 percent) for 13 ongoing ones, show the budget 2024-25 documents.

The 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2011 devolved education as subject to provinces, with the federal government mainly financing education in federal territories and higher education institutions in the country.

The largest allocations among new initiatives are Rs5 billion for the establishment of six Daanish schools in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan regions to provide free education to disadvantaged children, Rs5 billion for Prime Minister's Youth Skill Development Programme to train youth in various trades and Rs4 billion for Pakistan Education Fund.

The other new projects to be executed in the next fiscal include Pakistan National Endowment Fund (Rs2 billion), the establishment of a Daanish school in Kuri area on the outskirts of Islamabad (Rs1.5 billion), Skill Development Programme (Rs1 billion), and Disruptive Education: Transforming Schools into Foundries of Emerging Technologies (Rs980 million).

As for the 2024-25 funding for the ministry's ongoing projects, the largest amount (Rs 3.2 billion) will be spent on the provision of missing basic facilities to Islamabad's schools and colleges overseen by the Federal Directorate of Education.

The ministry will also get Rs485 million for the Federal Government College of Home Economics, Management Sciences and Specialised Disciplines in the sector F-11/1, Rs417 million for the prime minister's special package to implement 'Skills for All' strategy for technical and vocational education training sector's development, and Rs320 million for the construction of the Graduate Block in Lahore's National College of Arts.