ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Wednesday directed the education ministry to carry out repair and maintenance of existing schools on priority basis instead of focusing on new institutions.

Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training, which met with Senator Rahila Magsi in the chair, discussed the proposed budget of the education ministry for the upcoming fiscal year 2019-20.

Committee members, particularly Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak, said instead of launching new development schemes for the upcoming fiscal year, the ministry should ensure that the existing educational institutions in Islamabad are repaired and maintained.

Under the Prime Minister’s Education Reforms Programme, the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) spent billions of rupees on the facelift of 200 educational institutions.

But last year, work on most schools was halted because of funding issue, causing inconvenience to students.

In addition to the 200 schools and colleges, there are 223 more institutions where no maintenance work has been carried out for decades.

The standing committee unanimously stressed on the education ministry to carry out a survey of dilapidated schools within a month, and in case no action was taken, the country’s financial institutions would be responsible for any loss of life that occurred.

Earlier, during the meeting, the education ministry officials presented a Rs4,972.227 million budget proposal before the committee for the next financial year.

They told the committee that the ministry had proposed 33 projects for the fiscal year 2019-20 including eight ongoing, 12 new approved projects and 13 new unapproved projects.

He said the ministry had demanded Rs1,233.526 million for its ongoing projects, Rs577.701 million for approved and Rs3,161 million for new projects.

However, committee members Mehar Taj Roghani, Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Nauman Wazir Khattak, Rukhsana Bangash, Manzoor Ahmed Kakar and Mushahid

Hussain Syed expressed their displeasure over the ministry’s presentation seeking approval of new projects for Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

The ministry’s additional secretary told the committee that no fund allocation had been made [in the past] for maintenance of schools as there was no such provision in the recurring budget.

The committee members said instead of opting for new schools, the ministry should maintain existing institutions.

The committee reiterated its decision of not approving any new educational project until repair and maintenance of existing schools is carried out.

The committee was informed that allocation of budget was made under two heads - recurring costs and PSDP. Recurring costs entail salaries as well as repair and maintenance cost. The committee was informed that 90pc of this budget gets exhausted in paying salaries.

The committee stressed the need for re-appropriation to protect the lives of students and teachers and said it would formulate a legislation that was needed to support this cause. The committee members were informed that the Planning Division was responsible for re-appropriation, however, inter-head fund appropriation cannot be carried out.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2019