Rs3.065b released for govt schools
Govt schools in Mirpurkhas had been illegally closed. PHOTO: FILE
The Punjab School Education Department (SED) has released Rs3.065 billion for the daily operations and payment of outstanding utility bills of 48,500 government schools following months-long protests.
With the fresh release, a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been introduced to govern the utilisation and auditing of the funds. Under the revised SOP, deputy district education officers, assistant education officers, and district education officers have been prohibited from conducting budget audits.
Future audits will be exclusively carried out by special committees nominated by the chief executive officers of the district education authorities. These committees, comprising three members, will oversee the expenditure of the released budget, requiring unanimous approval from school councils.
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The non-salary budget can now also cover the salaries of security guards and sanitary workers in government schools, as well as the purchase of school furniture.
For Rawalpindi district, a sum of Rs11.71 million has been issued to be disbursed among 1,828 government schools. Moreover, over Rs5.989 has been released for Attock, Rs6.263 million for Chakwal, and Rs4.461 million for Jehlum district.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2023.