ISLAMABAD: The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), which is supervising 432 public schools and colleges in Islamabad, is facing shortage of funds and its current deficit has increased to Rs7 billion.

This was revealed by FDE acting director general Amjad Ahmed, as he sought help from caretaker education minister Madad Ali Sindhi during the latter’s visit to the directorate on Tuesday.

The interim minister held a meeting with officials of the FDE during which he was briefed about the achievements and challenges faced by the FDE and its institutions.

“The current year’s deficit of the FDE is about Rs7 billion. There are pending liabilities of Rs4 billion under the heads of rental ceiling, leave encashment, operational cost and payment of salaries to daily wagers,” the minister was told.

There are liabilities of Rs4bn under heads of rental ceiling, leave encashment and salaries of daily wagers, caretaker minister told

Mr Ahmed, joint secretary education ministry, has been looking after the affairs of FDE on a temporary basis. He also informed the minister that some years ago the FDE was provided 200 buses for schools and colleges but without sanctioned posts of drivers and cleaners that resulted into issues regarding operation of the buses.

He said FDE was striving to improve the quality of education and was committed to actively promoting curricular and co-curricular activities.

The minister assured the FDE of his full support to overcome these pressing issues, adding he would approach the concerned ministries for early disposal of issues and provision of budgets. He directed the director of schools to conduct regular visits to schools and colleges to ensure quality of education.

According to a press release, the minister said in the past there were countries that were decades behind us but now due to their better education they were miles ahead of us.

The minister said there are challenges faced by every institution but we should try to resolve them with complete dedication and hard work. He said government institutions held immense importance for the employees as they not only provide salaries but also pensions after retirement.

The interim minister said teachers should not hold administrative positions and should solely focus on their duties as educators. He said teachers had the most important responsibility and should discharge their responsibility with full dedication.

He was told that last year 2,839 teachers were imparted training. Moreover, indoor sports facilities were established in 391 schools and colleges in addition to enrollment of 17,000 out-of-school children.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2023