The teaching community hailing from both public and private sectors has rejected the education budget allocated for the fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 terming it insufficient.
The Punjab government has allocated Rs 312 billion for education this year which is 19 per cent of the total budget of Rs 1,681 billion for the province.
From the amount of Rs 550 billion earmarked for the development projects in the province, the school education department will get Rs 47.76 billion, while Rs 17.21 billion will be spent on the development projects of higher education.
Mutahidda Mahaz Asataza Chairman Tariq Mehmood told Pakistan Today that the government has allocated a huge chunk of amount for the privatisation of schools through Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) and the Daanish Schools Authority. As many as Rs 12 billion will be given to PEF, while Rs 3 billion will be spent for Danish authority in the development program. He further added that Rs 1.2 billion are required to establish a Danish school and emphasised that government should spend this amount on the already dilapidated school buildings.
“As per the ambition of government, all the children will be in schools till 2020, but the available buildings are not sufficient to cater to all these children,” he said. He was of the view that the lapse of development budget is an old problem in every department, as Rs 6 billion lapsed last year in the development schemes of School Education Department.
All Pakistan Private Schools Federation President Kashif Mirza told Pakistan Today that the education budget is just a jugglery of words and the education sector will further deteriorate in the next year.
“The Article 25-A, which stipulates that the state will ensure to provide free education to every child, is just a dream, as the government has not increased the education budget even for one per cent this year,” he said.
It is a common practice in Pakistan that a very small amount of allocated budget is utilised during the fiscal year and most of the funds lapsed every year, Mirza added. According to him, the government has ruined the education in public sector and now it has started creating problems for the private sector as well. He was of the view that the government had shut down private schools eight times last year on the pretext of security causing enormous problems for both students and parents.
Punjab Teacher’s Union General Secretary Kashif Shahzad told Pakistan Today that the issue of scale upgradation is not addressed in this budget and the teachers will be on roads again to get their due scale upgradation. “The lawmakers give 100 per cent raise to their salaries, but the government employees have received only 10 per cent raise. On the other hand, inflation has increased manifold,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the government had earmarked Rs 310 billion for education last year which was 21 per cent of the total budget outlay.