Rs97.4b earmarked for education

PESHAWAR:

A whopping Rs97.4 billion has been collectively allocated to primary, secondary and higher education in the provincial budget under the head of current revenue expenditure.

Increasing the education budget by 19.8% from the previous year, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government has earmarked Rs88.27 billion for financial year 2015-16 for elementary and secondary education.

The proposed budget for education for the upcoming financial year reflects the provincial government’s commitment to prioritise education. Last year’s revised estimate for current revenue expenditures for education stood at Rs75.02 billion.

Past and present

According to the white paper issued on Monday, the budget of elementary and secondary education department has been increasing at an annual rate of 24% for the past five years. Under the Local Government Act 2013, elementary and secondary education along with adult education and literacy function has been devolved to the local government.

Higher education

A provision for Rs9.2 billion has been made in the budget for higher education for 2015-16, showing an increase of 54.4% from the ongoing financial year. These allocations have been made against the revised estimates of Rs6 billion for the sector during the previous year.

“The high increase is due to transferring of colleges of commerce and management sciences from the department of technical education to higher education department,” stated the white paper.

Salaries

A sizeable portion of the education budget will go towards the payment of salaries. According to the white paper, an additional 10,439 posts have been proposed for the financial year 2015-16. Of these, 10,169 will be for teachers and support staff at primary schools, while 265 posts are for upgradation in schools and the existing secondary schools.

The white paper added there are currently 187,795 posts in elementary and secondary education sector for the current financial year 2014-15. Of these, 99% of employees are working in the districts as part of the school faculty and district administration. Currently, there are a total of 10,449 posts in the higher education department. However, in the financial year 2014-15, 385 posts were created to hire teachers and staff for newly-established colleges, existing colleges, students hostels, teachers training academy and internal audit cell in the secretariat; another 149 posts are proposed to be created in financial year 2015-16.

According to the white paper, Rs8.3 billion have been allocated for non-salary budget in the elementary education sector. Key features of this budget include provisions for enrolment and repair of furniture and office buildings.

New schemes

During his budget speech on Monday, Minister for Finance Muzaffar Said explained that Rs10.2billion has been allocated for 71 schemes in the elementary and secondary education sector.

“Rs7.95 billion has allocated for 49 ongoing schemes while the remaining amount has been allocated for 22 new schemes,” he said. “This is a 25% increase from last year’s allocations for new schemes.” According to Said, 20% has also been allocated for education at the district levels.  About the government’s targets in 2015-16, the finance minister said 150 primary and 100 secondary schools will be constructed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2015.