'Federal capital lacks money to pay bus drivers'
PEIRA tells UC registration condition for registering schools withdrawn
Islamabad. PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
The National Assembly Federal Education and Professional Training sub-committee has been informed that the lack of funds for buses of schools, colleges operating in the federal capital is causing problems.
The meeting was held in the Committee Room of the Federal Education and Professional Training Ministry and was chaired by the Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Capital Development Authority Affairs (CDA) Ali Nawaz Awan.
During the meeting, lawmakers were told that location trackers have been installed on as many as 70 buses but there are no funds to install trackers in or even to register the remaining 130 buses.
Ministry officials said that around Rs250 million are being spent on publishing textbooks. Students of government run schools get these textbooks for free.
During the meeting, the appointment of daily wage teachers was discussed. Education officials said that the finance ministry does not provide funds for National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and daily wagers.
They added that during the tenure of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), around 300 daily wage teachers had been regularised. Later, they had sought some Rs313 million from the government to pay the teachers who the court had directed to regularise. But they were only provided with a million rupees.
Some 300 daily wage teachers are being paid while the issue of the rest is pending in court.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Sadaqat Ali Khan said that the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Private Educational Institution Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) has set the condition of registering with the respective union council (UC) before registering the school. However, he said that each UC was asking schools to fork out Rs25,000 to register them.
At this, PEIRA officials clarified that the UC officials were probably asking for a bribe and that some have even asked for as much as Rs100,000. They added that the condition has been withdrawn.
Additional Secretary Saleem Ranjha said that a private firm will soon start providing milk to students at seven schools in the capital.
In response to a question posed by PTI MNNA Nafeesa Khattak, officials said that Montessori classes are being offered in as many as 30 schools of the federal capital. In the first phase of the project, teachers had been recruited for the project. However, further recruitments under the second phase could not be completed due to a shortage of funds.
Answering another question, education ministry officials said that this year, they had sought a billion rupees from the finance ministry. This was up from the Rs128 million sought in the last fiscal year. However, the government only released a thousand rupees for each of the 423 schools in the city.
To complete the repair and rehabilitation work at schools in the federal capital, officials said that they require around Rs2 billion.
MNA Abbasi sought details of the schools and the exact number of rooms that need to be constructed.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) MPA Mehnaz Akber Aziz asked the education secretary to prepare a draft about the sector-wise rise in the capital’s population in the past five years and the increase in population expected over the next five years and the capacity of schools in each of these sectors.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2020.
The National Assembly Federal Education and Professional Training sub-committee has been informed that the lack of funds for buses of schools, colleges operating in the federal capital is causing problems.
The meeting was held in the Committee Room of the Federal Education and Professional Training Ministry and was chaired by the Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Capital Development Authority Affairs (CDA) Ali Nawaz Awan.
During the meeting, lawmakers were told that location trackers have been installed on as many as 70 buses but there are no funds to install trackers in or even to register the remaining 130 buses.
Ministry officials said that around Rs250 million are being spent on publishing textbooks. Students of government run schools get these textbooks for free.
During the meeting, the appointment of daily wage teachers was discussed. Education officials said that the finance ministry does not provide funds for National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and daily wagers.
They added that during the tenure of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), around 300 daily wage teachers had been regularised. Later, they had sought some Rs313 million from the government to pay the teachers who the court had directed to regularise. But they were only provided with a million rupees.
Some 300 daily wage teachers are being paid while the issue of the rest is pending in court.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Sadaqat Ali Khan said that the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Private Educational Institution Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) has set the condition of registering with the respective union council (UC) before registering the school. However, he said that each UC was asking schools to fork out Rs25,000 to register them.
At this, PEIRA officials clarified that the UC officials were probably asking for a bribe and that some have even asked for as much as Rs100,000. They added that the condition has been withdrawn.
Additional Secretary Saleem Ranjha said that a private firm will soon start providing milk to students at seven schools in the capital.
In response to a question posed by PTI MNNA Nafeesa Khattak, officials said that Montessori classes are being offered in as many as 30 schools of the federal capital. In the first phase of the project, teachers had been recruited for the project. However, further recruitments under the second phase could not be completed due to a shortage of funds.
Answering another question, education ministry officials said that this year, they had sought a billion rupees from the finance ministry. This was up from the Rs128 million sought in the last fiscal year. However, the government only released a thousand rupees for each of the 423 schools in the city.
To complete the repair and rehabilitation work at schools in the federal capital, officials said that they require around Rs2 billion.
MNA Abbasi sought details of the schools and the exact number of rooms that need to be constructed.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) MPA Mehnaz Akber Aziz asked the education secretary to prepare a draft about the sector-wise rise in the capital’s population in the past five years and the increase in population expected over the next five years and the capacity of schools in each of these sectors.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2020.