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Education is still not given due importance in Pakistan despite tall claims by successive governments, as the Pakistan Economic Survey 2009-2010 has revealed that a paltry two percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was spent on the sector during the said fiscal year. Describing education as the single-most important factor for alleviating poverty, the survey said that during the fiscal year 2006-077, 2.5 percent of the GDP was spent towards education. The survey put the average literacy rate in the country at 57 per cent, 69 per cent for males and 45 per cent for females, compared to 56 per cent in the previous year. The report also pointed out that the public expenditure on education in the country was much ‘poorer’ when compared with other South Asian countries. According to UNESCO’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2009, the public sector expenditure on education in other countries of the region is: 2.6 per cent of the GDP in Bangladesh, 3.2 per cent in Nepal, 3.3 per cent in India, 5.2 per cent in Iran and 8.3 per cent in the Maldives. “The poor quality of the learning environment is evident from the fact that a large number of schools lack basic infrastructure such as boundary walls, and drinking water,” The Dawn quoted the report, as saying. The report said that 33.9 per cent of schools in Pakistan lack facilities for pure drinking water, while over 60 per cent don’t have any electricity.

Mere two percent of GDP spent on education in Pak