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Islamabad`s education sector getting meagre funds

By Kashif Abbasi 2016-01-04
ISLAMABAD: Of the Rs555.1 million allocated by the federal government for education sector development projects in the federal capital, only Rs138 million had been released by the end of December 2015.

Around 75pc of the budget allocated for the development schemes remained stuck.

Sources in the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) ministry said that around 24pc of the total allocation was released, putting the future of the schemes at stake.They said the allocated budget was for five ongoing and four new schemes.

Interestingly, not a single rupee was released for three of the four new schemes.

`For the smooth completion of the projects, the major chunk of the allocated amount should have been released during the first two quarters. But normally we get the budget during the last quarters and sometimes during the last month of the fiscal year. In that case, the departments concerned have to compromise on quality in order to meet the deadline,` a CADD official said on condition of anonymity.

He also blamed the lethargic approach of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) and CADD officials for not pursuing the cases with the ministry of finance.

According to the budget documents, during the first two quarters (June to December 2015), the government released Rs80 million for an ongoing project to establish a Federal College for HomeEconomics and Management Sciences and Specialised Disciplines in F-11, Rs6.4 million for the construction of the Model Child Welfare Centre Humak, Rs19 million for the upgradation of the Islamabad Model School for Boys G-11/2, Rs14 million for the upgradation of Islamabad Model School for Boys G-6/4 and Rs6 million for the upgradation of Islamabad Model College for Boys, G-10/4.

The much delayed development scheme for the Bhara Kahu Degree College received only Rs3.7 million out of the allocated Rs9 million.

Three new schemes, which did not receive any funding, were the smart schools project, the upgradation of high schools and the National Special Education Centre for Hearing Impaired Children in H-9/4, to the graduation level.

Sources at FDE said the Planning Commission had allocated Rs100 million each for the unapproved smart schools andupgradation of high school projects but due to red tape, the PC-1 of the two projects had not been finalised.

They said Rs100 million were allocated for 18 high schools which, during the PPP government, were upgraded without the provision of furniture and building expansion. However, CADD failed to get the project approved.

An amount of Rs100 million was approved for the unapproved smart schools project a pilot project to provideinternetfacilities to the students and teachers of 15 schools. But FDE and CADD have yet to even complete file work for the project.

Despite repeated attempts, CADD Secretary Khalid Hanif could not be reached for comment.

Under the Prime Minister Reforms Initiative, the federal government is going to upgrade 21 schools in the city.

The civic agency recently invited tenders for the Rs102 million project.