GENDER AND PUBLIC SPENDING ON EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN: A CASE STUDY OF DISAGGREGATED BENEFIT INCIDENCE

To what extent has government education spending in Pakistan been effective in reducing gender gaps in enrollments? To answer this question, this article reviews the benefit incidence of government education spending. It finds that government subsidies directed towards primary education are pro poor in all four provinces of Pakistan. Moreover, females has disadvantage in access to primary education. However, government subsidies directed towards higher education poorly targeted and poorest income group receives less than the riches income group and indeed favor those who are better off. Similarly, the gender disparity in access to public subsidy is higher at tertiary level and lowest at primary level, which also reflects poor targeting. Improving targeting to the poor as well as better female participation involves not simply rearranging the public subsidies, but also addressing the constraints that prevent the poor and females from accessing these services.