s Pakistan’s two most populous provinces unveil their education budgets for FY 2025–26, the emerging picture is one of fiscal ambition tempered by systemic constraint. The Punjab and Sindh, together home to more than 194 million people, now educate over 19 million children across 100,000 schools. Yet, nearly 17 million children remain out of school. Critically, more than three in four children in Pakistan are unable to read a simple sentence by age 10, a grim indicator of learning poverty that casts a long shadow over any budgetary milestone. Both these governments have announced record education budgets, Rs 812 billion (17.7 per cent of Punjab’s total budget) and Rs 654 billion (17.6 per cent of Sindh’s). But the deeper question is whether these allocations are translating into equitable access, measurable learning improvements and institutional resilience.

The allocations indicate that education remains a provincial priority. Yet amid shrinking aid and fiscal constraints, the greater challenge lies not in funding levels but in how strategically resources are planned and utilised. Both these provinces meet the UNESCO Incheon benchmark of 15-20 per cent of total public spending on education, but must now deliver more, with greater precision, fiscal discipline and system-wide efficiency.

The Punjab, with a population of 134 million, has 60,127 schools with over 458,000 teachers and enrols more than 15 million children, yet 9.6 million remain out of school. Sindh, with a population of 60.3 million, operates 41,158 schools, employs 162,000 teachers and educates 4.15 million children, while 7.6 million remain out of school.

Over the past decade, both provinces have expanded education spending. Punjab’s budget has grown 334 per cent since 2010-11, reaching Rs 812 billion in 2025-26. Sindh’s has risen from Rs 109 billion in 2012-13 to Rs 654 billion. Yet, these increases have not yielded proportionate improvements in access or learning. Punjab’s education share dropped to 12 per cent in 2023-24 before recovering to 17.7 per cent.

In Sindh, the share of education budget has remained flat at around 17 per cent, highlighting a disconnect between spending growth and reform. Only 31 per cent of schools have electricity and 57 per cent have toilets.........

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