Education Funding in Pakistan: A Closer Look at GDP Allocation

The government of Pakistan is yet to improve spending on education in comparison to other nations, as national and provincial authorities spent only 0.8 percent of GDP on education in FY 2025.

Between July 2024 and March 2025 individuals actually spent Rs 899.6 billion on education, which was 29.4 percent less than the Rs 1,251.06 billion spent in FY 2024. This significant drop in figures has occurred as Pakistan deals with more problems in literacy, school enrollment, and educational structures.

Compare to countries worldwide, Canada’s spending on education is much lower since they usually spend between 4 and 6 percent. Since funding for education has fallen, concerns have spread among experts and policymakers, as the situation could mean delays in achieving development goals for the country and the world, for example the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The government wants education to promote social and economic improvement, but the sector is still getting inadequate funding. This problem is seen in some important numbers: many children do not go to school, reading levels have not increased, and there are still public schools that do not have electricity and fresh drinking water.