Gender differentials in the cost of primary education: a study of Pakistan.

This study examined differences in the costs of primary education for boys versus girls in provinces in Pakistan. Data were obtained from the Federal and Provincial Annual Development Plans. Enrollment during 1973-91 increased faster for girls than for boys, but the number of teachers and schools for girls was much lower than the optimum. There were too many schools for boys. Provincial governments may allocate funds for primary education on the basis of intersectoral priorities rather than as a production function of enrollments. The real growth in expenditures per year has been rising at a rate of 8.1% annually. Expenditures adjusted to real terms and deflated by the construction sector rose by 8.8% annually. The author estimates enrollment and output costs of primary schools per student in 1990-91 prices during 1973-91 by province and gender. Costs varied by province and gender. In Balochistan, relative costs did not change over time, but were higher due to construction costs. Pooled time series data were used to determine average cost function for the primary education of girls and boys. For all provinces, average costs declined initially and then rose with an increase in the ratio of schools to school-age population. In the determination of costs of teachers per school, costs rose initially, declined up to a certain level, and then rose again. The optimum number of schools/1000 students, in Punjab and Sindh, was 6.02 for girls and 5.67 for boys. For NWFP and Balochistan, the optimum number of schools was 3.88 for boys and 0.27 for girls, which is unrealistic. Funds for development need to be shifted to recurring expenditures to employ teachers.