Over Rs485bn allocated for education sector

LAHORE:The Punjab government has allocated over Rs485 billion for education sector of the province for the new fiscal year of which over Rs56.7 billion will be spent under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2022-2023.

According to the budget, present allocation is over Rs43 billion more than the allocation in the previous budget. Of over Rs485 billion education budget, major chunk, Rs428.5 billion will go for salaries and other related expenditures under the non-development expenses while the remaining Rs56.7 billion will be utilised on the development side such as establishment of new schools, colleges and universities etc and the provision of missing facilities etc.

For School Education, the Punjab government has allocated a total of over Rs421 billion of which Rs382 billion has been earmarked for non-development while remaining almost Rs39 billion has been earmarked under the Annual Development Programme 2022-2023. An amount of over Rs59 billion has been earmarked for Higher Education of which Rs45.5 billion for the non-development expenditure while the remaining over Rs13.5 billion has been earmarked on the development side. For Special Education a total budget of over Rs1.5 billion has been earmarked of which an amount of over Rs324.6 million has been allocated for the non-development expenditure while for the development purposes an amount of Rs1.2 billion has been earmarked.

An amount of almost Rs3.6 billion has been earmarked for Literacy and Non Formal Education of which Rs3 billion is for the Development Programme 2021-2022 while almost Rs600 million for the non-development expenditures. Of over Rs39 billion for School Education under the Annual Development Programme 2022-2023, Rs2.15 billion would be spent on the ongoing schemes while over Rs9 billion would be spent on the new schemes. For Afternoon Schools Programme (Upgradation of Primary and Elementary Schools) an amount of Rs4.8 billion has been earmarked. An amount of Rs2 billion has been allocated for the retrofitting and reconstruction of partially dangerous school buildings in Punjab.

A huge sum of Rs27.8 billion would be spent on the other development programme which includes new initiatives of School Education Department (SED) Punjab for imparting education through outsourcing of public schools (PEIMA) Rs4.8 billion, for imparting education through private participation (Punjab Education Foundation) Rs21.5 billion and Daanish Schools and Centres of Excellence Authority Rs1.5 billion.

Similarly, of over Rs13.5 for Higher Education under the Annual Development Programme 2022-2023, over Rs6 billion would be spent on the ongoing schemes and over Rs6.4 billion would be spent on the new schemes while Rs950 million would be spent on the other development programme. One of the new schemes for Higher Education is the provision of laptops to students for which an amount of Rs1.5 billion has been earmarked. The other development programme includes Punjab Education Endowment Fund (PEEF) Rs700 million, Lahore Knowledge Park Company (LKPC) Rs200 million and Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) Rs50 million. For the establishment of Campus of Punjab University in Daska city Rs150 million has been allocated. Similarly, of Rs3 billion for Literacy and Non Formal Education under the ADP 2021-2022, Rs1.9 billion would be spent on the ongoing schemes.