Education facilities: Govt releases Rs3.5b in non-salary budget for schools

All schools in 36 districts of the province will receive NSB funds

LAHORE: The Punjab government has released Rs3.5 billion of the non-salary budget (NSB) funds for the 1st quarter of the fiscal year 2017-18. The funds have been released for the primary, elementary, high and higher secondary schools in all the 36 districts of the province.

According to a notification available with The Express Tribune, the funds have been transferred to accounts set up for the funds. It said, "NSB funds amounting to Rs3.5 billion have been  transferred into Special Drawing Accounts (SDAs) jointly operated by Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), District Education Authority and District Education Officers (Secondary) (DEOs) in all 36 districts for disbursement of NSB funds to schools."

The conditions for using and distributing the funds to schools have also been given in the notification. As per the guidelines in the notification, the funds could not be used for any other purpose and would be transferred to school councils of every district. Furthermore, it said, the SDA would be jointly operated by CEOs and DEOs under rules and regulations circulated by the finance department from time to time.

The CEOs were told to ensure that school councils had exclusive bank accounts for the NSB funds and the accounts should be in the name of the school. It said that head teachers and co-chairpersons would be the custodian of the school council funds and would act as co-signatories.

The notification further directed CEOs of all DEAs to transfer the funds to schools in their jurisdictions as per the rules and entitlement of each school as per their respective district budgetary allocation. It said, "CEOs DEAs are immediately requested to disburse NSB funds to all schools and certificate of transfer of NSB funds should be submitted to PMIU-PESRP latest by September 30, 2017." It further directed strict monitoring of the utilisation of the NSB funds.

According to the budget for the fiscal year 2017-18, the Punjab government allocated Rs14 billion for the non-salary budget, equal to the allocation for the previous year. However, in the previous fiscal year – 2016-17, the provincial government was only able to release around half of the allocated amount just days before the announcement of the budget for 2017-18.

Allocations for each district

According to the allocation made for each district, Attock received Rs72.8 million, Bahawalnagar Rs121.9 million, Bahawalpur Rs86.85 million, Bhakkar Rs72 million, Chakwal Rs59.6 million, Chiniot Rs50.69 million, Dera Ghazi Khan Rs99.42 million, Faisalabad Rs240.1 million, Gujranwala Rs126.56 million, Gujrat Rs98.98 million, Hafizabad Rs46.63 million, Jehlum Rs48.82 million, Jhang Rs106.35 million, Kasur Rs121.48 million, Khanewal Rs122.38 million, Khushab Rs52.56 million, Lahore Rs172.12 million, Layyah Rs87.26 million, Lodhran Rs48.46 million, Mandi Bahauddin Rs63.1 million, Mianwali Rs69.45 million, Multan Rs111.08 million, Muzaffargarh Rs108.6 million, Nankana Sahib Rs54.91 million, Narowal Rs78.92 million, Okara Rs119.01 million, Pakpattan Rs65.9 million, Rahim Yar Khan Rs153.88 million, Rajanpur Rs50.90 million, Rawalpindi Rs115.52 million, Sahiwal Rs103.68 million, Sargodha Rs141.99 million, Sheikhupura Rs96.77 million, Sialkot Rs124.44 million, Toba Tek Singh Rs100.63 million and Vehari Rs106.02 million.

The NSB funds have been allocated in the provincial budget to improve conditions of classrooms, part-time teacher, if needed, build toilet blocks and provide double shifts in schools to control overcrowding.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2017.