Rs28b increase in overall education budget

LAHORE: With a total allocation of Rs 32.8 billion for the education sector in Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2018-19, the Punjab government is ready to introduce new schemes.

The general allocation of Rs 373 billion, including development and non-development budget, showed 28 per cent increment than the last year.

School education is allocated Rs 25 billion. An allocation of Rs 223 million has been made in the ADP for provision of missing facilities along with measures for security. Under a new initiative, an allocation of Rs 15 million has been made for single special toilet in the schools for girls.

Meanwhile, an allocation of Rs 1 billion only has been made in the ADP for establishment of new Daanish Schools and up-gradation of existing ones.

The school meals programme is also envisioned in the multi-sectoral nutrition strategy and Rs 10 million have been allocated as pilot project.

There is a focus on soft interventions like automation of HR database of school education department, modernising teaching through capacity building of in-service teachers and head of schools and madrasa education support programme as new initiatives.

Higher education is allocated Rs 5 billion. A total of Rs 895 million has been allocated for the provision of missing facilities of the college education and Rs 3,848 million to establish an engineering and IT university in Rahim Yar Khan. A total of six universities will be established in the first phase and three from them are being proposed in south, north and central Punjab.

Establishment of 44 degree colleges in Punjab, completion of the building of Bahadur sub-campus of BZU Multan, provision of missing facilities to 33 colleges and provision of existing 134,000 scholarships through Punjab education endowment fund are included in the targets for the financial year 2018-19. Special education is allocated Rs 1 billion with Rs 1.8 billion for literacy and non-formal basic education. Overall, the ADP budget is lower than previous years.

Discussing the budget, Minister for School Education Murad Raas said, “The previous government falsely claimed about progress in the education department. The reality is totally opposite. More than nine million children are still out of school. We have fixed the budget for the development sector. We will work on all the education targets for sustainable development goals in 2030.”

He said pre-primary schooling programme would start soon with a budget of more than Rs 500 million. To promote technical and vocational education, new programmes have been introduced with the total package of Rs 50 million, he added. “Through this, our skilled force will be able to hit the international market,” said Murad.