Education budget blocked by Senate panel

Lawmakers want existing projects to be completed in the federal capital first

ISLAMABAD: A Senate panel on education has refused to approve the budget for the upcoming fiscal year as long as new projects are preferred over repair and upkeep of old schools is completed.

This was decided during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee at the Parliament House on Wednesday.

During Wednesday’s meeting, debate resumed over the inclusion of new projects in the proposed Rs5 billion public sector development project (PSDP) for the education ministry for the fiscal year 2019-20.

Officials of the education ministry told the committee that budgetary allocations are made under two distinct heads, recurring costs and PSDP. Recurring Costs entail money to pay for salaries of all government staff and other bills along with any repair and maintenance costs. PSDP pertains to money for infrastructure development projects.

The proposed PSDP sum for the next fiscal, officials said, included allocations for eight ongoing projects, 12 projects which have been approved previously and 13 new projects which are awaiting approval.

Senate panel point out ghost employees in PSQCA

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa asked officials of the education ministry if they were building new institutions, were they also looking after the old ones?

He went on to suggest that the ministry should start with repairs at the 423 schools which exist in the federal capital first.

Additional Education Secretary Anwarul Hussain Bukhari told the committee that over 90 per cent of their budget goes towards paying salaries. He explained that the recurring, non-development budget does not include money for the repair and maintenance of schools.

He further elaborated that there were separate schools in the federal capital for the specially-abled children.

Senator Khattak, however, remained adamant and stated that the ministry should start with improving the condition of the schools which have already been established in the federal capital and that the committee should halt the construction of any new educational institutions in the city unless this suggestion was followed.

The chairperson committee, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Rahila Magsi of the federal capital said that those projects which are still underway should be prioritised and completed first before work on new projects start.

This point, however, became the point of contention and even caused a minor quarrel between Senator Khattak and the additional education secretary.

Opposition protests PM's absence from Senate session

It took an intervention from Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Senator Molvi Faiz Muhammad from Balochistan to stop the two from arguing after he pointed out that it was unconscionable to quarrel while fasting.

The committee stressed the need for re-appropriation to ensure the safety of student and teachers and said that it would formulate any legislation that was required to support this cause.

The committee was told that the Planning Division was responsible for re-appropriation, however, inter-head fund appropriation cannot be carried out. The committee unanimously stressed the need for a survey to be conducted by the Ministry of Education regarding dilapidated schools within a month and if no action was taken after that, responsible will be taken to task if any loss is suffered.

Agreeing with Senator Khattak’s point, they refused to approve the ministry’s budget unless the reconditioning of already established institutions was completed.

National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC ) director general (DG) got up to brief the committee about the work of his organization but he was stopped owing to the shortage of time and the meeting was adjourned.

The committee was chaired by Magsi and comprised of Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Rana Maqbool Ahmad, Molvi Muhammad, Najma Hameed, Khattak, Professor Dr Mehr Taj Roghani. The Additional Secretary Ministry of Education Syed Anwarul Hussain Bukhari, Federal Board Chairman Dr Ikram Ali Malik, Special Education Director-General, NAVTTC DG, Planning Division officials and ministry representatives also attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2019.