Allocation for education: Minister for verification of spending by provinces

Also asks NEF to examine possibility of running its schools through public-private partnerships.

The Academy of Educational Planning and Management (AEPAM) should crosscheck whether the provinces are spending their education budget allocations on as agreed under the National Action Plan.

This suggestion was made by Minister for Education, Trainings and Standards in Higher Education Baleeghur Rehman during a visit to AEPAM on Thursday. The minister also directed the academy to review the course content of its training modules in close consultation with the provinces so that their needs were properly taken into consideration. Rehman said that AEPAM’s officers should also be given capacity building training. He stressed that the AEPAM should also establish linkages with donor agencies to seek funding for the training of school managers.

AEPAM Director General Dr Allah Bukhsh Malik informed the minister that the academy trained 200 education managers last year.

The minister was informed that the AEPAM was the only institution collecting, collating and disseminating educational data and providing the same to national and international organisations.

The minister was also given a briefing on the working of the National Education Foundation (NEF). The minister said that the NEF should improve its monitoring mechanism. He said that the AJK government has welcomed the federal government’s offer to launch the Basic Education Schools scheme in the region. “The NEF may also examine the possibility of running its schools through public-private partnerships,” said the minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2014.