ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has said that Pakistan needs to declare an emergency in health and education sectors, warning that ignoring the two crucial areas could push the country to the club of poorest countries by 2027
According to the World Bank’s review report, 8 out of every 10 children in Pakistan cannot read a simple text and the country needs to raise its middle class by investing in its education and health sectors.
According to the report, more than 200 million children in Pakistan were out of school. “That’s why 8 out of every 10 children are unable to read or understand a simple text. Its rising proportion could be dangerous for an average-income country like Pakistan,” the WB report said.
According to the report, Pakistan needs to spend 4.8 per cent of its total per capita income or around Rs40 trillion on children’s education.
It said that more than 200 million children aged 5 to 16 were out of school in Pakistan, almost the highest compared to the rest of the countries in the region. It said that of them, 82 per cent of children have never been to school.
According to the World Bank report, the poverty rate in Pakistan has increased further due to the coronavirus epidemic and subsequent floods in 2022, which have badly affected the health and education sectors.
“Pakistan needs to focus on health and education emergencies as well as family planning and human development,” the report said adding that Pakistan is producing 61 per cent of all its wealth from manpower, while it is still the lowest in the world.
“If Pakistan focuses on increasing investment in its people, the country’s economy will be stable in the next few years,” it said.
According to the World Bank report, 7 per cent of newly born children in Pakistan do not reach the age of five due to lack of full development, 40 per cent of children remain physically and neurologically weak in the later stages of life. That is why Pakistan needs to further improve its health sector, it said.
“Investing in humans improves the country’s economy; effective human investment also increases manpower and reduces poverty.”
According to World Bank Vice-President Mamta Murthy, if Pakistan invests in its people, it can increase its human development index as well as its per capita growth rate by up to 32 per cent.
