Gender Analysis of Education Budgets in Pakistan: Case Studies of Punjab and Sindh

Abstract

This study provides a gender analysis of public sector budgets in education sector. An in-depth analysis of pre-primary to secondary level education budgetary allocations and spending in Pakistan of 2016-18 has been conducted. The study identifies that 22.8 million children aging between 5-16 years were out of school in 2016-17. In Sindh, a vast portion of girls’ public schools is functioning without basic facilities while the state of basic facilities is relatively better in the Punjab. Furthermore, study finds noticeable gender disparities in budgets for public education sector. The study concluded that in order to ensure sufficient allocations to promote girls’ education budget making process needs to be reconfigured. The gender lens should be introduced at a very early stage where budget call circulars are being sent to the departments concerned.