PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has pledged that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will make education a top priority in the forthcoming provincial budget, vowing increased funding and urgent reforms to address the sector’s deepening crisis.
Chairing a high-level meeting in Peshawar on Tuesday, the chief minister directed relevant departments to prepare a comprehensive plan to tackle critical challenges, including teacher shortages, out-of-school children, and a lack of basic facilities in schools across the province.
His remarks come amid a mounting textbook shortage, high dropout rates, and Pakistan’s low standing in the District Education Performance Index (2020–23). Gandapur warned that without immediate intervention, the province risks further setbacks in educational access and quality.
“Education will receive increased allocations in the upcoming budget. The crisis demands decisive action, and we are treating it as an emergency,” the chief minister said.
He called for 100% merit-based recruitment of teachers and capacity-building measures to enhance teaching standards. He also instructed education authorities to identify underserved areas and establish temporary schools in rented buildings to meet urgent needs.
To combat declining enrollment, the government will introduce schemes aimed at increasing school admissions, especially in districts where out-of-school children remain alarmingly high.
Emphasising the need for transparency and accountability, the CM ordered the strengthening of monitoring mechanisms and fast-tracked efforts to equip schools with missing facilities such as science laboratories, examination halls, and other essential infrastructure.
For two decades, KP has provided free textbooks at the start of the academic year. However, rising costs prompted the government to halve distribution two years ago and instruct schools to collect used books from students for redistribution.
This year, confusion has gripped public schools as students and teachers report widespread shortages, despite the textbook board claiming that all requested books have been printed and dispatched.
Education experts have warned that the failure to deliver textbooks and address infrastructure gaps could widen disparities in access and undermine student learning outcomes.
The CM’s statement also follows an official report last August, which placed Pakistan’s education system in the “low performance” category and called for urgent policy and budgetary shifts.
