ISLAMABAD: Though over 800 teaching and non-teaching staff members have been waiting for their salaries for over a year, the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) failed to utilise an amount of Rs100 million during the financial year 2014-15. As a result, the unutilised amount lapsed.

The FDE, which looks after 422 educational institutions in the capital, had to utilise the amount before the completion of the financial year 2014-15 on June 30.

Sources said a major chunk of the lapsed amount was to be paid to the 845 daily-wage teaching and non-teaching staff. The sources said out of the amount, Rs8.3 million were reserved for the purchase of computers, Rs1 million for nine educational institutions to install close circuit television cameras and LCDs, Rs5 million for teacher training and Rs0.5 million for honorarium for the best teachers and other employees.

“It’s a matter of great concern for us. But here, no one is ready to perform their duty efficiently. Normally, a file takes a couple of days to move from one desk to another. So under such circumstances, you cannot expect positive results,” said an official of the FDE who requested not be named.

Officials say amount could not be utilised due to objections raised by finance ministry

“It’s a bitter truth that we even could not fully utilise the fund reserved for honorarium let alone paying the daily wages. An amount of Rs0.5 million reserved for honorarium to encourage the hardworking teaching and non-teaching staff also lapsed,” he said.

However, another official said the FDE should not be held responsible for the non-payment of salaries to the daily-wage employees.

“I do agree that we failed to purchase computers and security cameras for schools but we are not at a fault as far as the payment of salaries to the daily-wage employees is concerned,” the official said. Till the last day of the financial year 2014-15, the FDE tried to release the salaries but the finance ministry raised several objections which could not be removed before the deadline, he added.

It may be noted that the FDE daily-wage employees have staged several protest demonstrations against the non-payment of their salaries.

A couple of weeks ago, Director General FDE Shahnaz A. Riaz approached the Senate standing committee on cabinet secretariat and informed it that the FDE had a sufficient budget to pay to the daily wagers but the finance ministry was raising objections.

However, the committee directed Ms Riaz to write to the ministry of finance to allow the FDE to utilise the available funds, but to no avail.

Despite repeated attempts, the FDE director general could not be contacted for comments.

However, Secretary Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Khalid Hanif told Dawn that he had sought a report from the FDE to know how much funds had lapsed.

“At the moment, I don’t know about the exact figure of the lapsed funds,” he said. In reply to a question, the secretary said in case the amount reserved for the salaries of the daily wagers lapsed, CADD and the FDE would utilise other funds to pay them.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2015

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