Fundamental right: Free and compulsory education in capital a pipe dream
No allocation for primary and secondary schools in CAD’s budget.
No allocation for primary and secondary schools in CAD’s budget. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Despite the burgeoning population of the capital and the subsequent need for additional educational institutes, there is no such allocation in the federal budget under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2013-14.
According to budget documents, Rs22 million have been allocated in the PSDP for two ongoing projects and no new project in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) has been proposed for education under Article 25-A of the Constitution.
This is in contrast to the much-hyped right to free and compulsory education legislation passed by the previous parliament, which proposed free education for children in ICT.
The new funding covers only two ongoing projects of model colleges from the previous fiscal and contains nothing for primary and secondary schools.
Moreover, in the last fiscal year, Rs2.9 billion were allocated for salaries and various allowances of over 15,066 employees while in the new budget, Rs5 billion have been earmarked for 15,050 employees.
Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (ISAPS) Research Fellow Ahmad Ali, in a presentation to parliamentarians, said it is strange that salary allocation has increased by 67 per cent whereas the number of employees has slightly decreased.
Separately, the allocations reveal a halt in private schools’ funding for the new fiscal year, which were receiving Rs12 million during the last two fiscal years under the Prime Minister’s special initiative programme for private schools charging nominal fees.
Ali also presented stats on the Alif Ailaan annual district education report 2013 where Minister of State for Education Balighur Rehman was also present. The report predicts a need of 85 new schools, 4,072 new classrooms and 4,568 teachers in primary, middle, and secondary schools and colleges in the ICT in the next 15 years. Rehman said he will check the discrepancy in salaries and the number of employess, adding that they could have been for some other purpose.
Regarding the exclusion of any new development scheme for the new fiscal year, Capital Administration and Development Division (CAD) Joint Advisor on Education Rafique Tahir told The Express Tribune that the untimely submission of projects from the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) was the main reason behind this.
“We pressed them (FDE) to submit projects before the finalising of budget but due to some unknown administrative problems, they did not come up with any,” he said.
A senior FDE official said there is a lot of mismanagement on the part of their director general and the directors which led to the ‘embarrassing’ situation where the ever-expanding ICT did not receive anything in the development budget for the new fiscal year.
It is pertinent to remember that on the one hand the FDE is looking to abolish evening shifts for equal opportunity for students at model colleges while on the other the number of students in each class is increasing substantially.
“For the last 15 years, not a single new model college has been made while this year hundreds of students were denied admissions in morning shifts because of lack of space in the morning slots and with this you can see the priority of FDE in the budget,” said the official on the condition of anonymity.
Federal Government College Teaching Association President Tahir Mehmood said the priority of the ruling party is evident from the budget for ICT, adding that this is the reality as ‘we’ have always been the least priority.
“No funds means no innovative steps, no new schemes and no go-ahead towards competition and progress, it is that simple,” said Mehmood curtly.
Think of the consequences when there is zero allocation for primary schools, which is the baseline of education in a country where teachers are underpaid and considered the most neglected community, Mehmood added. He was a vigorous campaigner in the last days of the previous government for salary raise and promotions of teachers of colleges and schools.
Meanwhile, Tahir informed that now they have received details of 17 new projects that will be approved through an additional grant from the Finance Division.
About the raise in salaries’ allocation, Tahir said for the first time, time-scale promotions were given to employees of educational institutes and over 1,000 teachers working on college funds were also regularised.
“So the increase is not surprising, rather it is in accordance with the requirements on ground,” he remarked.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 22nd, 2013.
Despite the burgeoning population of the capital and the subsequent need for additional educational institutes, there is no such allocation in the federal budget under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2013-14.
According to budget documents, Rs22 million have been allocated in the PSDP for two ongoing projects and no new project in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) has been proposed for education under Article 25-A of the Constitution.
This is in contrast to the much-hyped right to free and compulsory education legislation passed by the previous parliament, which proposed free education for children in ICT.
The new funding covers only two ongoing projects of model colleges from the previous fiscal and contains nothing for primary and secondary schools.
Moreover, in the last fiscal year, Rs2.9 billion were allocated for salaries and various allowances of over 15,066 employees while in the new budget, Rs5 billion have been earmarked for 15,050 employees.
Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (ISAPS) Research Fellow Ahmad Ali, in a presentation to parliamentarians, said it is strange that salary allocation has increased by 67 per cent whereas the number of employees has slightly decreased.
Separately, the allocations reveal a halt in private schools’ funding for the new fiscal year, which were receiving Rs12 million during the last two fiscal years under the Prime Minister’s special initiative programme for private schools charging nominal fees.
Ali also presented stats on the Alif Ailaan annual district education report 2013 where Minister of State for Education Balighur Rehman was also present. The report predicts a need of 85 new schools, 4,072 new classrooms and 4,568 teachers in primary, middle, and secondary schools and colleges in the ICT in the next 15 years. Rehman said he will check the discrepancy in salaries and the number of employess, adding that they could have been for some other purpose.
Regarding the exclusion of any new development scheme for the new fiscal year, Capital Administration and Development Division (CAD) Joint Advisor on Education Rafique Tahir told The Express Tribune that the untimely submission of projects from the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) was the main reason behind this.
“We pressed them (FDE) to submit projects before the finalising of budget but due to some unknown administrative problems, they did not come up with any,” he said.
A senior FDE official said there is a lot of mismanagement on the part of their director general and the directors which led to the ‘embarrassing’ situation where the ever-expanding ICT did not receive anything in the development budget for the new fiscal year.
It is pertinent to remember that on the one hand the FDE is looking to abolish evening shifts for equal opportunity for students at model colleges while on the other the number of students in each class is increasing substantially.
“For the last 15 years, not a single new model college has been made while this year hundreds of students were denied admissions in morning shifts because of lack of space in the morning slots and with this you can see the priority of FDE in the budget,” said the official on the condition of anonymity.
Federal Government College Teaching Association President Tahir Mehmood said the priority of the ruling party is evident from the budget for ICT, adding that this is the reality as ‘we’ have always been the least priority.
“No funds means no innovative steps, no new schemes and no go-ahead towards competition and progress, it is that simple,” said Mehmood curtly.
Think of the consequences when there is zero allocation for primary schools, which is the baseline of education in a country where teachers are underpaid and considered the most neglected community, Mehmood added. He was a vigorous campaigner in the last days of the previous government for salary raise and promotions of teachers of colleges and schools.
Meanwhile, Tahir informed that now they have received details of 17 new projects that will be approved through an additional grant from the Finance Division.
About the raise in salaries’ allocation, Tahir said for the first time, time-scale promotions were given to employees of educational institutes and over 1,000 teachers working on college funds were also regularised.
“So the increase is not surprising, rather it is in accordance with the requirements on ground,” he remarked.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 22nd, 2013.