Daily Times

Punjab government is going to  increase development budget of  higher education to 35% in upcoming budget.

The annual government budget for the fiscal year 2020-21 will be announced by the Pakistani government in June 2020. The budget will be presented in session of the National Assembly.

14 new universities including 9 from southern Punjab will be established with the increase in education budget for Punjab.

Sources revealed that South Punjab will get major chunk of new budget. Almost 60% for new schemes are expected to be launched.

Notably, DG khan division will get most of budget share  from southern Punjab share.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ’s eleven-point election manifesto in 2018 included establishing a southern Punjab province as an administrative unit.

In the last budget, the higher education department allocated Rs42.4bn out of which Rs35.1bn was for current expenditure and Rs7.3bn for development. Out of this, Rs2.12bn was allocated for construction and completion of 64 new colleges in the province, Rs1.54bn for rehabilitation of 51 colleges, Rs540m for the Chief Minister’s Merit Scholarship Program and Rs400m to assist newly established universities in Jhang, Okara, Sahiwal and Narowal.

Moreover, Rs350m was allocated for establishment of North Punjab University in Chakwal, Rs370m for expansion of Khawaja Farid University of Engineering and Information Technology (Phase-II) Rahim Yar Khan, Rs100m to upgrade University of Mianwali and Rs45m for promoting sports activities in education institutions.

Though the country’s education budget has improved over the years, it is not enough to match its needs.

Poor quality of education is one of the many risks that Pakistan faces, adding to its unemployment crisis.