Funds for Special Education Dept released

Differently-abled students were deprived of transport at schools as the dept could not afford fuel

FAISALABAD: After a delay of seven months, the district government has issued funds for the Special Education Department, Express News reported.

Reportedly, the budget for the Special Education Department was supposed to be released in July 2018. However, the process was delayed for several months. As a result, differently-abled students enrolled in schools run by the department were deprived of transport facilities indefinitely as the fuel costs for the buses could not be covered.

Many students had stopped coming to school altogether which had adversely affected their studies. Apart from this, the monthly stipend given to students was also suspended.

Meanwhile, the department was unable to pay utility bills and other expenses at schools and offices due to a lack of funding.

However, all of these issues can now be resolved. The transport service at schools for the differently abled will begin functioning again while students’ monthly stipend will also be issued.

Earlier, out of a total of 16 schools in the district, the bus service at eight schools had been suspended indefinitely while the remaining suspended the service in the following week due to a lack of funds. The department had been forced to borrow diesel in order to operate the buses. However, petrol pump owners put their foot down and refused to loan anymore fuel.

According to the law, providing differently abled students with free transport is mandatory for all special education schools.