Islamabad, May 17 – “Pakistan’s scores have improved notably well on the enrollment rates at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, however the scores in this area are still absolutely low, brining down Pakistan’s competitiveness rankings considerably”, this was stated by Arthur Bayhan, Chief Executive Officer of the Competitiveness Support Fund. The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) delegation made a special presentation to the Ministry of Education here today. The CSF delegation comprised of Arthur Bayhan, CEO of the Competitiveness Support Fund, Abdul Basit, Joint Secretary, of the Prime Minister’s Special Programme Wing, Ministry of Finance and Noor Aftab from the Board of Investment.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Jahangir Bashar, Secretary Ministry of Education. Mr. Bashar informed the CSF delegation that the ministry has a national education policy, which aims at education and training initiatives to enable the people to become more productive citizens. The ministry is also aiming eradication of illiteracy through formal and informal means of expansion for basic education through involvement of community. He further informed the delegation that the government aimed to take the current literacy rate of about 39% to 55% in the first five years of the policy and 70% by the year 2010. He said that functional literacy and income generation skills will be provided to rural women of 15 to 25 age group and basic educational facilities will be provided to working children. Functional literacy will be imparted to adolescents (10-14) who missed out the chance of primary education. The existing disparities in basic education will be reduced to half by the year 2010.

Arthur Bayhan, Chief Executive Officer of the Competitiveness Support Fund, in his presentation briefed the ministry on the indicators affecting the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) of the World Economic Forum. Bayhan informed the secretary that the Ministry of Education has a key role to play in improving Pakistan’s Global Competitiveness Ranking. He said that, “the Ministry of Education along with educational leaders, university officials, provincial and district leaders must continue to make progress in improving education enrollments at all levels”. On the importance of the education pillar of the GCI, he further said that “the secondary and tertiary education, entrepreneurship training, management training and information technology must be expanded. Schools need to focus on equipping students with marketable skills as well the skills such as communication, teamwork, conflict resolution and household finance”. Mr. Bayhan also emphasized the importance of equipping young people with both aptitude as well as the attitude to secure employment. This will improve Pakistan’s scores in terms of a variety of efforts related to the “primary and secondary education” indicators.

The State of Pakistan’s Competitiveness Report of the CSF and the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) of the World Economic Forum (WEF) identified that Pakistan’s overall ranking in the Education pillar is weak. Pakistan ranked at 108 placing it last among its comparators, while Sri Lanka registered the highest ranking of 36th. The worst ranking in this pillar was in primary school enrolment, a score based on hard data. However, there was a slight improvement from 115th to 112th, reflecting government of Pakistan’s efforts to improve primary education coverage. This ranking was well behind all other comparators, including Sri Lanka’s high ranking of 31. The Global Competitiveness Report compares 125 economies of the world on the nine different pillars, including institutions, infrastructure, Macroeconomy, health & primary education, market efficiency, technological readiness, business sophistication and innovation.

Mr. Jahangir Basher informed the CSF delegation that the Ministry of Education would like to work closely with the CSF on analyzing the data available on the education sector in Pakistan. He also requested the CSF to assist the ministry on improving Pakistan’s competitiveness on the education pillar. “We urge CSF to assist us in sending the updated data to the international sources, as it is crucial to improve our competitiveness”, said Basher.

The Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz launched the State of Pakistan Competitiveness Report in March this year. The Prime Minister asked the CSF to bring all line- ministries and relevant institutions on board to improve Pakistan’s ranking on the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum. CSF’s presentation to the Ministry of Education was to discuss the identified sectors where Pakistan is lacking behind and how Pakistan can improve its competitiveness. CSF has already briefed other line- ministries and meetings with the other ministries and relevant institutions will follow.

Pakistan showed solid improvement from last year’s 94th place to 91st place this year on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). The GCI ranked 125 countries in this year’s survey over 117 in the prior year. Pakistan’s gain takes on added significance when compared to the drop in rankings experienced by many noteworthy emerging markets. In comparison to the other economies, GCI rankings dropped by 9 for Russia and Brazil, by 6 for China, by 2 for Thailand and by 1 for Malaysia. With its rise of two places over last year, regional competitor India failed to keep pace with Pakistan’s improvements. CSF is working closely with the World Economic Forum, as its country partner institution, on the ranking of Pakistan as well as on identifying the areas to be improved and the methodologies that will bring about that improvement.

Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). CSF Supports Pakistan’s goal to be of a more competitiveness economy by providing input into policy decisions, working to improve regulatory and administrative frameworks and enhancing public-private partnerships within the country. CSF also provides technical assistance and co-financing for initiatives related to entrepreneurship, business incubators and private-sector-led initiatives with research institutes and universities that contribute to creating a knowledge-driven economy.

Support for CSF is part of the $1.5 billion in aid that the U.S. Government is providing to Pakistan over five years to improve economic growth, education, health, and governance

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