SHAHZAD RASHEED
PESHAWAR: Blue Veins organized a media briefing to emphasize the important role of media in monitoring the spending of the Education Budget for the fiscal year 2025–26. The session underlined that media acts as a watchdog in ensuring effective resource implementation, gender-inclusive allocations, and addressing challenges that hinder the realization of education goals. The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has announced an 11 percent increase in the education budget, rising from PKR 326 billion in 2024–25 to PKR 363 billion in 2025–26, with a development budget of PKR 18 billion. Among the key initiatives are PKR 1.2 billion for the Education Emergency School Support Programme, a commitment under the Good Governance Roadmap to reduce out-of-school children by 50 percent, and the outsourcing of 1,500 schools under the public–private partnership model. The budget also includes PKR 278 million for the construction of boundary walls and washrooms in 120 schools and introduces the Education Card Scheme to provide free textbooks, stipends, and other facilities to students. This year 29 new development projects have also been introduced. Speakers at the briefing noted that while the budget reflects ambitious commitments, robust budget tracking, transparency, and accountability mechanisms are essential to ensure that these resources translate into meaningful impact, particularly for girls’ education, in line with the Free and Compulsory Education Act 2017 and its notified rules in 2025. Highlighting the importance of girls’ education, participants stressed that the media must sustain pressure on policymakers to honor their commitments, ensuring that financial allocations lead to concrete improvements in enrollment, retention, and the quality of education for girls.
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