Friday, June 06, 2008
By Khalid Khattak
LAHORE: VARIOUS departments in the education sector have forwarded budgetary proposals worth Rs 22 billion in the Annual Development Plan (ADP) 2008-09 in the upcoming budget, The News has learnt.According to sources, a major chunk of proposed allocation - over Rs 20 billion - had been proposed by the Punjab School Education Department and the Higher Education Department while rest of the allocation in the budget has been proposed by other departments, including Punjab Special Education Department and Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education Department.The Punjab government had allocated Rs 21.480 billion for education sector in the ADP 2007-08, registering an increase of 72 per cent as compared to the budgetary allocation for 2006-07.Sources in the Punjab Education Department, which has recently been bifurcated into the School Education department and the Higher Education department, have finalized budget proposals.According to the sources, the School Education Department has proposed around Rs 10 billion budget adding almost similar allocations were being proposed by the Higher Education Department. Regular meetings were being held with the Planning and Development (PD) Department these days.Sources in the Special Education Department said the department had proposed around Rs 1 billion allocations but the PD had imposed cuts on these proposals. It is also learnt that the Literacy Department had also proposed around Rs 1 billion budgetary allocation.Senior officials of departments in the education sector, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the PD had been imposing cuts on the proposed allocations forwarded by various departments adding meetings to finalise the budgetary proposals were being held in this connection almost on a daily basis. They said various schemes, introduced in the ADP 2007-08 which could not be initiated during the whole last year would be included in the upcoming annual development plan.The sources revealed that various schemes for the higher education for the year 2007-08 including internal merit scholarships for professional colleges in Punjab, establishment of public library at Kamalia, Toba Tak Singh, college teachers training, establishment of Government Girls’ Degree College Shahdra, Marghazar Colony Lahore, Khanewal, Sialkot and Chakwal and establishment of Boys Degree Colleges at Gujrat, Multan, Jhang and Shalimar Town Lahore could not be initiated and these schemes would be included in the ADP 2008-09.When contacted, Higher Education Department’s Deputy Director (Planning) Iftikhar Hassan Butt said some schemes regarding establishment of new colleges could not be initiated due to non availability of land. He said majority of the schemes had been approved and would be started soon. A scheme regarding college teachers training could not be started in 2007-08 and it would be included in 2008-09 ADP. He said around 85 percent of the previous budgetary allocation had been used so far.According to the sources, a number of schemes from the school side could not be started during the previous fiscal year and would be included in the upcoming ADP. Prominent among these schemes are renovation of Government Central Model High School, Lower Mall and provision of building for the Punjab Examination Commission. They said both the schemes had been included in the ADP 2008-09.It is learnt that a number of these schemes related to the Literacy and Non Formal Basic Education Department included in the ADP 2007-08 could not be started during the ongoing fiscal year about to end soon and these schemes had been included in the next ADP.It is learnt that the Special Education Department had started almost all the schemes including nutrition programme for students of special education, provision of teaching aids to students, establishment of a computer lab and recourse and guidance center at Lahore, provision of first aid kits to the institutions of special education in Punjab, establishment of special home for destitute children at Lahore, implementation of special education institutions/ centers in Punjab and some other schemes.The sources said a scheme regarding establishment of labs for the repair and maintenance of equipment/ teaching aids at district level in Punjab was dropped by the secretary of the Special Education Department. When contacted, Secretary Suhail Masood said the scheme was dropped after thorough deliberations. “It would have become a liability for ever because of which the scheme was dropped”, he added.
Source: The News International
Friday, June 06, 2008
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