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Edu division spent only 33pc of PSDP allocation in 2006-07
ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: Out of RS 6560 millions allocated for development
projects in the Financial Year 2006-07, the Education Division spent only RS.
2193/- millions by the end of June 2007. This means that the Division could
spend only 33% of the original total allocation, which indicates that there
continue to exist serious problems in terms of ensuring timely release and
utilization of education budget.
It is to be noted that the total utilization by
the end of 3rd quarter (i. e. end of March 2007) was only RS 1281 millions,
which constituted just 20% of the original budgetary allocation. Hence, the
Education Division that spent only 20% of the total allocation in the first
three quarters was able to spend another 13% in the last quarter. The low
utilization of development budget at the disposal of Education Division is
attributed to a variety of factors including the late releases by the Ministry
of Finance, delays in site selection and acquiring land, inter-departmental
disputes, non-availability of technical staff, failures in appointing full-time
project directors, delayed consultant reports, late issuance of work orders and
late submission of reports or requests for release of funds by the related
implementing organizations.
It is a very disturbing fact that the Education
Division has been unable to get these problems fixed over the past several
years. In view of slow implementation of development projects in 2006-07, the
government had substantially reduced the original budgetary allocation of RS
6560 millions to RS. 4418 millions by the end of the financial year in June
2007. Out of the original allocation, RS 1314 millions were transferred to the
Economic Affairs Division (EAD), RS 828 millions were surrendered, and RS 483
millions simply lapsed. In this backdrop, the total amount released to the
Education Division during 2006-07 was RS 3935 millions; out of which only RS
2193 millions could be utilized. Hence, the rate of utilization, even in
relation to the released funds only, was very low i. e. only 56%. It must be
noted that utilization of allocated funds is often extremely low during the 1st
and 2nd quarters. It is evident from the fact that, by the end of 1st quarter
last year, only RS 106 millions had been utilized by the Education Division,
while only 596 millions had been released by the end of September 2006.
The
Education Division must improve its performance; and inform the stakeholders
after each quarter about the progress on development projects. It must also
consider monthly briefings for the media in order to explain the problems being
faced and achievements being made. Another worrying fact is that the PSDP for
the year 2006-07 included allocations for 17 cadet colleges, which are planned
to be completed over a period of several years with a total cost of about RS
3600 millions. However, in 2006-07, about RS 766 millions were allocated for
work on these colleges; out of which an amount of RS. 492 was utilized during
the year. Hence, about 22% of the total funds utilized were spent on cadet
colleges that are under construction. Considering that the cadet colleges cater
to the needs of only a certain middle class segment of the society, it is a
matter of serious concern that the Education Division puts such a high priority
on cadet colleges. There is an urgent need to reconsider this policy in order to
more efficiently use the budgetary allocations for achieving the objective of
education for all.
Some of the relatively bigger projects that witnessed very
slow progress during the year included (a) Madrassa Reforms Project – out of the
original allocation of RS 500 millions for the year, only RS 102 millions could
be spent; and (2) Punjab Schools Library Project under German Debt Swap 1 – out
of the total allocation of RS 331 millions for the year, only RS 26 millions
could be utilized. It is demanded that the Education Division must take
immediate steps to improve its monitoring system and fix problems that result in
extremely low utilization of funds. It also needs to reassess its priorities and
ensure that budgetary allocations are efficiently utilized for promoting
education for all. Most importantly, the Division must proactively share all the
related information about the development projects as well as utilization of
PSDP after each quarterly review. Maximum transparency in this context can help
in better monitoring, greater accountability, timely rectification of related
problems and improved performance of the Education Division. It would also
improve public trust and confidence in the Division, which is currently lacking
for a variety of reasons. Frontier Post
Your Comments
"I need punjab teachers 4 bilion pakage notification by punjab government."
Name: azhar ellahi
Email: azharell@hotmail.com
City, Country: Bahtar Attock, Pakistan
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| Education News | | Updated: 25 May, 2012 |
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