Casper in the classroom: Funding set to vanish for 2,000 ‘ghost schools’

NEF board cuts off financing; EDOs to verify schools in their districts.

ISLAMABAD:

The National Education Foundation (NEF) board of governors decided on Monday to suspend funds for some 2,000 schools across the country. This comes after National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) was unable to verify their existence.

However, the board has not taken any concrete steps to find who is to blame for letting these ‘ghost schools’ get funding for all these years.

The decision was taken in a board meeting held under the chairmanship of Professional and Technical Training Minister Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada.

An official who attended the meeting said that the board expressed concern over growing mismanagement and reports of rampant corruption in Basic Education Community Schools (BECS).

According to the source, the body noted that there are around 2,000 ghost schools operating in far-flung areas, who are still getting salaries and other funds for operating.

In the meeting, the board decided to form various committees to probe into these matters and ensure transparency in the future. The committees include an executive committee, an audit and account committee, a human resources committee, and a finance committee.

It was also decided that responsibility to eradicate ghost schools in the provinces and federal areas will be given to the respective education district officers (EDOs). They will monitor whether schools are working properly are not. Schools whose teachers’ CNICs have not been verified by NADRA will be closed, added the official.

NEF officials also told the board that an investment of Rs61 million with National Bank of Pakistan matured on February 25, 2012 and is required to be reinvested immediately. After analysing the quotations offered by different banks, the money will be invested in Faisal Bank, which offered the maximum return.

The board was informed that a proposal for rationalisation of the BECS project as directed by a federal cabinet committee has been prepared for the approval of the board before being presented to the Planning Division.

The auctioning of surplus vehicles was also approved and will be properly advertised in different newspapers.

Riaz Pirzada was told that monitoring BECS in inaccessible parts of Balochistan and Fata is a constant issue, and the chairman placed responsibility on the Fata and Balochistan members to solve the problem immediately. It was also decided that every NEF regional director will be assigned to focus on at least four selected union councils in remote areas to achieve the target of 100 per cent enrolment. The minimum criteria for selection of teachers will be BA or BSc, however, where graduates are not available, intermediate will be considered eligible if they pass a thorough interviews.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2012.