The Economic Survey of Pakistan 2021-22 issued by Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail and Minister Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal shows that last year only 1.77% of GDP was spent on the education sector meanwhile KPK achieves the highest literacy growth rate among all other provinces.
Breakdown of the literacy growth rate of all provinces
According to the PES 2021-22, the primary education completion rate stood at 67%, the lower education completion rate stood at 47%, and the upper secondary education completion rate stood at 23%. Genderwise, the literacy rate among males slightly increased to 73.4% in FY2020-21 from 73% in FY2018-19 while the literacy rate among females increased from 51.5% in FY 2018-19 to 51.9% in FY2020-21.
The province-wise shows KPK attaining the highest literacy growth rate among all other provinces while the overall literacy rate has also increased in all provinces:
- Punjab – The literacy rate in Punjab increased from 66.1% in FY2018-2019 to 66.3% in FY2020-21.
- Sindh – The literacy rate in Sindh increased from 61.6% in FY2018-2019 to 61.8% in FY2020-21.
- KP – The literacy rate in KP increased from 52.4% in FY2018-2019 to 55.1% in FY2020-21.
- Balochistan – The literacy rate in Balochistan increased from 53.9% in FY2018-2019 to 54.5% in FY2020-21.
Government to introduce SNC to raise education standards
The minister presenting the survey report announced the introduction of a Single National Curriculum(SNC) to provide equal learning opportunities to all segments of society. The SNC will be introduced in three phases:
- Phase I: SNC and textbooks Pre I-V (Academic Year 2021-22)
- Phase II: SNC and textbooks VI-VIII (Academic Year 2022-23)
- Phase III: SNC and textbooks IX-XII (Academic Year 2023-24)
According to the survey, the implementation of SNC has already started in Islamabad, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Gilgit-Baltistan from academic year 2021, however, the implementation of SNC in Balochistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir will begin from the academic year 2022. The survey also said that Sindh was an active part of the development of the SNC. However, for implementation, discussions are going on with the Sindh government.
Read more: Punjab to Digitise its Education System
