Islamabad, December 29. The Ministry of Education has released data today on Pakistan's public sector allocation for education in the financial year 2003-04. According to this data Pakistan's public sector allocation for education is likely to exceed 2.5% of the projected real increase in GDP for the year 2003-04.
This data has been collected and compiled by the Ministry of Education for the first time after a rigorous exercise extending over several months and involving various Federal Ministries/Divisions and Organizations under their administrative control. Data from the provinces has also been obtained and has been classified under devolved and non-devolved budget.
The data now released belies the contention of various quarters that Pakistan was spending less than  2 % of its GDP on education.

The released data does not include private sector investment in education. Those involved in data collection from the private sector point to numerous difficulties in securing information. Experts however, estimate that private sector investment in the education sector ranges between 0.5%-0.75% of the GDP. If the conservative estimate of 0.5% is added to the public sector allocation, then the total national investment in education will exceed 3% of the GDP.
Notwithstanding the considerably higher outlay for education as brought out in the information now released by the Ministry of Education, there is need to enhance public sector allocations for education for alleviating poverty and promoting human resource development considered vital for Pakistan's forward move to acquire the status of a knowledge based society.