Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, 22.8 million children of school-going age in Pakistan were not in schools. A recent study “Girls’ Education & Covid-19 in Pakistan” suggests that girls’ access to formal education in Pakistan is further expected to regress as a result of the steep decline in household incomes. Unfortunately, past precedent does not favour the educational prospects of millions of Pakistani children struggling to learn during the pandemic. As established by a recent white paper “Public Investment in Education: Covid-19 and Other Past Emergencies”, Pakistan has repeatedly failed to bring any substantial increase in its education development expenditure during the past twenty years. With the pandemic already reversing the country’s educational gains, this enhanced investment needs to be made urgently: it needs to be made now.

Source: The Express Tribune May 17, 2021 03:56 UTC