ISLAMABAD, June 19: Although the federal education budget has been increased, 85 per cent of it has been allocated for the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and only 15 per cent would go to schools and colleges of the federal capital.

Another 85 schools, 4,072 classrooms and 4,568 teachers would be required to achieve the target of 100 per cent literacy rate in Islamabad.

This was stated by senior researcher of the Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (ISAPS) Ahmed Ali during the ‘Special Budget Briefing for Parliamentarians on Federal Education Budget 2013-14’, organised at a local hotel on Wednesday.

He said in the rural areas of the federal capital, three per cent schools did not have the basic facilities of water, electricity and toilets, while 3.4 per cent schools did not have boundary walls.

The quality of education was another problem altogether.

“Implementation of Article 25-A, which guarantees education to every child aged between 5 and 16 years, is another challenge for the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development (CAD),” he said.

Ahmed Ali said that despite the increase in education budget, it was strange that the development budget for the education sector had been decreased by 80 per cent, and the allocation for primary schools was not increased at all.

He added that the operating cost of institutions had increased, which was inexplicable.

“While Rs16 million were allocated for the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) in the previous budget, Rs126 million have been allocated for the FDE this year despite the fact that there are only around 300 employees in it,” Ahmed Ali said.

He added that in the outgoing fiscal year, Rs12.07 million had been allocated to provide books free of cost to the students of private schools in the federal capital, but in the recently proposed budget, no such allocation had been made.

However, Member of National Assembly (MNA) Danyal Aziz, who belongs to the Pakistan Muslim League-N, said rather than criticising the budget, NGOs should appreciate that the allocation for education had been increased.

Senator Saeeda Iqbal, who belongs to the Pakistan People’s Party, said she was not in favour of providing free of cost books to students of private schools.

“Books were distributed to only those school owners who had good relations with bureaucrats in CAD. There is less student-teacher ratio in private schools due to which they give better results, and government schools should be facilitated more,” she said.

She also criticised spending money on higher education and said without a strong educational base, children would be unable to reach the degree level.

“At the moment, children of rich people are studying in the higher education institutions,” she said.

However, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s MNA Nafeesa Khattak said free of cost books should be provided as most private schools charged Rs300 to Rs700 monthly as tuition fee, while those who charged more had their own syllabus.

While talking to Dawn, Senator Saeeda Iqbal said she was not satisfied with the educational budget at all. “It seems it was made by a businessman and aimed for profit. We cannot play with the future of our children,” she said.

She said in the federal capital, appointment of teachers was done on the basis of quota, in which teachers were appointed from all provinces and came to Islamabad on deputation.

They usually refused to work in rural areas.

“I suggest teachers having the domicile of Islamabad should be given preference as only the local people can work in the rural areas,” she said.