Capital’s schools to get 70 new buses today

Govt has yet to allocate formal budget for fuel and drivers of vehicles

ISLAMABAD: In a bit of good news for the government-run schools and colleges in the federal capital, the government is expected to distribute some 70 new buses amongst the educational institutions in the city today.

However, there is no word on whether the government has formally allocated budget to pay for the fuel for these buses or to hire drivers and conductors. As a result, this project could fail to get on the roads.

Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) Schools Director Saqib Shahab told Daily Express that to improve the access of children to schools, they were providing additional buses to state-run schools in the city. These buses will be used to provide students with a pick-and-drop facility.

He said that following a survey of the needs of various schools in the federal capital, there was a demand for 88 buses in the federal capital’s various regions. Of these, there was a demand for 23 buses for some 3,641 children in Urban-I (areas including Sectors F-6, F-7, G-6, G-7, G-8 and E-8). There are just 17 buses available in this area currently.



Moreover, in Urban-II (areas under Sectors G-9, G-10 and I-8), there was a need for 33 buses for 2,805 students where there are 12 uses available currently.

A further five buses were needed in Sihala, seven for Bara Kahu, 14 for Tarnol and six for Nilore.

FDE Director General Dr Ali Ahmed Kharal, after reviewing a briefing by Shahab, approved the distribution of 70 buses to the federal government schools in the capital.

Sources say these buses will be distributed amongst the schools on need-basis.

According to documents available with Daily Express, the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) — the apex body for government-run educational institutions in the city, was provided with 200 buses under the Prime Minister’s Education Reforms Programme initiated by deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif in December 2015.

So far, the government has distributed some 130 buses amongst the capital’s ‘Federal Government’ and ‘Model College’ educational institutes.

However, the now-defunct Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) and the FDE, failed to allocate a budget so that the schools could hire drivers and conductors for these buses and to procure fuel for the vehicles.

Moreover, the government had failed to provide the Rs45 million required to register these buses with the Excise and Taxation Department of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration which would grant them a legal tender to ply on the capital’s streets.

The buses handed over to the model colleges were run because the schools had funds available. But buses handed to schools in the rural areas of ICT are lying idle due to a shortage of funds.

As the government gears up to distribute buses amongst the 423 educational institutes in the city, the government has apparently repeated its mistake of not allocating funds.

Asked about the funds' issue, Shahab conceded that there was no formal allocation for buses in the annual budget. However, he explained that even when the first 130 buses were distributed, the FDE and the finance ministry had evolved a solution for the buses to operate.



He dilated that the buses will operate on a cost-sharing basis between the schools and the finance ministry until the next annual budget. He added that orders in this regard have also been issued from the relevant quarters.

Meanwhile, sources say that FDE officials have issued clear instructions that the buses will only be used for ferrying children to and from schools.

To raise funds for the buses, there have been a number of proposals which were discussed in the FDE. One of these proposals was to convene a parents-teachers association meeting where parents will be requested to provide funds for the buses. Moreover, another recommendation was to urge students to donate towards the expenditure of the buses.

Previously, the FDE and the education ministry has mulled a number of solutions to funding the buses, including a ‘nominal’ maintenance fees from students.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2019.