Professors and teachers unions criticised Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for allocating Rs 3 billion for eight Danish schools in the provincial budget and said that Danish Schools project was a ‘politically motivated’ programme.
No happy over the new budget, teacher unions representatives said that the Punjab CM should consider the ‘real issues’ of the education sector. The government allocated Rs 14 billion for around 63,000 schools in Punjab while only Rs 6 billion was allocated for around 468 colleges.
Surprised at the budget announcement, educationist said there was nothing for thousands of poor children of the Punjab, while Danish schools got a hefty allocation. Punjab Professor and Lecturers Association (PPLA) Dr Zahid Sheikh President termed the fund allocation to the project as ‘CM’s stubbornness’. He said that it was tragic that 468 colleges received only Rs 6 billion and only eight Danish schools were given Rs 3 billion.
He said that the government had failed to present a good budget for education, as last year Rs 23.3 billion was allocated and this year only Rs 23.9 billion was given. He said that the Sindh government allocated around 39 percent of its total budget for education and in Punjab only 11 percent of the total budget was allocated. He termed the limited allocation ‘shameful’. Punjab Teachers Unions (PTU) President Chaudhry Allah Rakha Gujjar also termed the hefty allocation to the Danish schools ‘disappointing’.
