Financing for equity in pre-primary education
1. Education resources to subnational governments
2. Education resources to institutions
3. Education resources to students and families
4. Social policies and family support programmes
Introduction
Key financing indicators (UIS Data)
The official entrance age to pre-primary education is 3 (UIS 2024 estimates). The net enrolment rate for pre-primary for both sexes is 33.85% (UIS 2024 estimates). No data is found regarding the number of years of free pre-primary education granted in legal frameworks, and the number of years of compulsory pre-primary education granted in legal frameworks.
Governance
After the 18th Constitutional Amendment, provincial governments assumed primary responsibility for financing and administering pre-primary education (which is treated as part of basic education) within their jurisdictions.
Tuition-free status
Pre-primary is not tuition-free according to national frameworks.
1. Education resources to subnational governments
Most provincial fiscal space for education, including pre-primary, is derived from federal-to-provincial transfers through the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, which constitutes the main central-to-provincial funding mechanism. According to the 2022 Biannual Report on Monitoring of the Implementation of the NFC Award, provinces collectively receive 57.5% of the net divisible pool, providing the core revenue base from which education budgets are financed. The horizontal distribution of this pool across provinces incorporates explicit equity considerations through a multi-criteria formula that assigns 82% weight to population, 10.3% to poverty and backwardness, 5% to revenue generation, and 2.7% to inverse population density.
Once NFC resources, along with limited own-source revenues, are received, provinces allocate education funding through recurrent budgets covering teacher salaries and school operating costs, and development budgets financing infrastructure, learning materials, and program expansion, with funds further distributed to districts through province-specific transfer arrangements. Within these provincial and district financing structures, pre-primary education is typically embedded within primary education rather than funded through clearly delineated budget lines. There are persistent gaps in recording and reporting pre-primary-specific allocations and expenditures.
2. Education resources to institutions
At the federal level, support to pre-primary education institutions is limited and facilitative in nature, focusing on policy guidance and targeted in-kind or incentive-based support. For example, under the 2017-2025 National Education Policy, Deeni Madaris that adopt prescribed national curricula, implement education standards, and operate in accordance with constitutional provisions are eligible to receive free textbooks supplied by the government through the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.
Direct public financing of non-state educational institutions is primarily undertaken at the provincial level through education foundations (such as the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF), Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), and the Balochistan Education Foundation (BEF)) operating as public-private partnership mechanisms. These facilitate provision of education at the pre-primary to secondary levels by offering grants, loans, access to public infrastructure, community facilities, and other related support services. Sindh has most explicitly institutionalized this PPP mechanism through the enactment of the 2010 Public-Private Partnership Act (amended in 2014).
Under its Education Voucher Scheme (EVS), the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) provides per-student financial reimbursements to pre-selected low-cost private schools, conditional on their enrolment of children from poor and underprivileged communities.
3. Education resources to students and families
At the federal level, there are no tax-based support measures for parents, such as tax credits or deductions, linked to children’s pre-primary education, nor are there direct cash or subsidy transfers from the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training to families for education.
4. Social policies and family support programmes
At the federal level, the main social policy programme related to education is the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), particularly through Benazir Taleemi Wazaif, which is explicitly directed toward primary and secondary education and covers children aged 4–12; it is not designed as a pre-primary or early childhood education intervention. Beyond the federal level, some provincial policy frameworks acknowledge pre-primary education within a broader social protection context, for instance, Sindh’s 2024 Early Childhood Care, Education and Foundational Learning Policy references linkages with social protection structures.
This profile has been reviewed by Dr. Muhammad Rafiq-uz-Zaman.
