Sindh education budget allocation discussed

Karachi

The Sindh government has allocated Rs176.4 billion for education in its budget for the upcoming financial year 2016-17. With the total share of education budget being 19.22% from the total provincial pie, this is the largest allocation not only among all departments of the provincial government but also among all provinces of Pakistan.

This was stated by participants of a roundtable on Sindh’s education budget held on Thursday by Alif Ailaan, a campaign for education.

It was said that the overall amount allocated for education in the provincial budget was also increased as compared to last financial year.

Giving a detailed break-up of the budgetary components, it was said that though the budget for pre-primary and primary education was decreased by 9%, with and allocation of 60.6 billion in FY 2015-16 to Rs55.3 billion in the upcoming financial year, the budget for secondary education was increased by 31%, from Rs36.6 billion to Rs48 billion.

However, the total budget for tertiary education has remained almost unchanged from the previous year with a slight decline of 0.2% from Rs28.5 billion to Rs28.04 billion.

Areas where more funds have been allocated include school specific budgets, girls’ stipends, school management committees and setting up of model schools in each district.

Speaking at the roundtable, Sindh education secretary Dr Fazlullah Pechuho apprised the audience that early childhood development was one the priority areas where resources allocation and teachers’ recruitment cadre will be dealt at an early stage.

Ghazala Siyal, and MPA of the Pakistan People’s Party, remarked that the government had begun preparing for the budget last October, and the allocation of about 28 percent for education demonstrated its commitment for the cause of education.

However, it was highlighted that though the government had begun allocating large amounts for education, the biggest challenge still was the capacity needed to spend the funds allocated every year. In the year 2015-16, Sindh had allocated Rs12.6 billion for pre-primary, primary and secondary education under its non-salary budget. As of April 2016, the province could spend only 30% of the total allocation. Similarly, the overall actual expenditure in the previous financial year was Rs102.2 billion against the allocation of Rs157.9 billion, around 64.7%.

It was also said that allocations for school specific budgets and school management committees were also clearly linked to the education department’s plans of reforming education by decentralizing decision making and by including the local community in the improving the quality of learning at schools.