Sindh gives top priority to education once again

KARACHI: Keeping in line with previous years, education has been given top priority in the Sindh budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year with an increase of 24%.

Presenting the budget in the Sindh Assembly on Monday, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said the increase in non-salary allocation for the education sector is much higher and has been increasing over the years.

A total of Rs202 billion has been allocated to the education department in the new budget, a huge jump from its previous allocation of Rs163 billion. Rs21 billion has been allocated for education in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) from the total of Rs244 billion for ongoing and new schemes in all sectors. Education gets 6.1% of the total Rs344 billion ADP in 2017-18, including foreign funding, federal funds and district budgets.
The Rs21 billion is specified for the 460 ongoing and new schemes for all the five sections of education – school education, college education, special education, Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Stevta) and universities and boards. The ADP for 2016-17 was Rs17 billion in total, while in the upcoming year allocations have been increased mainly in the schools and universities and boards departments. The budget for special education and Stevta has remained the same.

The allocation for the ADP 2016-17 was Rs17.2 billion, with Rs13 billion for the education and literacy department, which until last year included schools and colleges under one roof, Rs213 million for special education, Rs1.07 billion for STEVTA and Rs2.95 billion for universities and boards.

Increasing the ADP for the next financial year by Rs4 billion, this year’s allocation includes Rs11.2 billion for schools education, Rs5 billion for college education, Rs213 million for special education, Rs1.65 billion for STEVTA and Rs3.6 billion for universities and boards.

The major highlights of upcoming ADP are the establishment of comprehensive schools, cadet colleges for girls in different districts, construction of the Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College in Sukkur, renovation of Chandka Medical College and construction of Noori girls hostel in Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU), Larkana.

Universities and boards

With an increase of Rs645 million in the budget, five new schemes have been added to the universities and boards department, including the establishment of a postgraduate research diagnostic laboratory at SMBBMU, strengthening of water and sewerage infrastructure at Karachi University and development of Dawood University of Engineering and Technology.

Meanwhile, a scheme that was added in the 2016-17 budget for the upgrade of the Government College of Technology into a university of technology and skill development in Khairpur has been repeated in the new schemes section this year, as the project never gained approval. The 2016-17 documents stated that the project was being completed in collaboration with the federal government – Rs1.5 billion would be the federal government’s share while Rs1.5 billion would be the Sindh government’s – but in the 2017-18 budget books it states that the project will receive Rs892 million from the Sindh government and Rs1.5 billion from the Centre.

STEVTA

Stevta’s budgetary allocation has not been increased but seven schemes have been included in the new schemes section.

Two different projects for the establishment of government vocational centres for girls have been ongoing since last year and a similar scheme has been added for other districts.

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Four units of vocational centres in Shaheed Benazirabad, Khairpur, Kamber-Shahdadkot and Tando Allahyar are to be constructed at a cost of Rs92 million.

Special education

The main scheme added in the new budget is establishment of an audio visual library at the special education complex in Karachi. Last year’s main highlight – the construction of an autism centre in Karachi – was just approved and the land has been allocated. According to the 2016-17 budget books, the project was to be completed by June, 2018, but the upcoming budget states that the date of completion will be June 2020 with the estimated cost increased by Rs188.4 million from the Rs100 million estimated in 2016-17.

College education

After the education emergency and bifurcation of the department, college education, which previously had Rs4.5 billion, has received an allocation of Rs5 billion in the upcoming fiscal year. The ongoing schemes include the establishment and completion of cadet colleges in Mithi, Shaheed Benazirabad, Dadu, Khairpur, Karampur, Kahirpur, Kashmore, Sukkur, Ghotki, Larkana and Jacobabad. The college education department does not have any new schemes.

Schools education

The biggest chunk of the Rs21.2 billion is being given to the schools education department. The total Rs11.2 billion allocation is divided into Rs3.7 billion for elementary education, Rs5.08 for secondary education, Rs239 million for teacher education, Rs625 for the Sindh Education Foundation and Rs1.58 billion for miscellaneous schemes.

The biggest scheme that has been introduced in the 2017-18 fiscal year for elementary schools is a solarisation project. A total of 12 schools will be included in the project initially, with an allocation of Rs40 million per school. The project will be completed by June, 2020.

After that, the upgrade of schools from primary to elementary levels has been the highlight of the schools education department schemes. Thirty-one schools will be upgraded in phase one of the project, with a budget of Rs20 million to Rs50 million each, depending on the size of the school.

The major ongoing project in secondary education is the establishment of 25 English medium schools in each district, which is supposed to be completed in June 2018, with an allocation of Rs400 million. In the teacher’s education budget, capacity building for teachers has been added as a new scheme with an estimated cost of Rs40 million.

The Sindh Education Foundation has also been allocated a separate budget for rehabilitation of non-functional government schools. Another new scheme is the establishment of the Sindh Education Foundation Complex at a cost of Rs566 million.

The most anticipated project of the education department in the last two years is the establishment of the ILMI complaint centre. In 2016-17, at an estimated cost of Rs30 million, the infrastructure development centre for seven districts of Sindh was added into the new schemes section after getting complaints on ILMI’s SMS complaint service. The project has been included in the ongoing schemes in the upcoming fiscal year, while in new schemes a miscellaneous section budget of Rs43 million has been allocated for furniture of schools whose complaints were registered through ILMI.

Source: The Express Tribune