Educationists say allocation in budget a pittance

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 20

Even as the state government is busy patting its back for a government budget aimed to ‘provide a huge boost to the education sector’, sceptics and critics in the Education Department have been left wondering what the ado is all about. Terming the allocations for the education sector declared in the state budget today as ‘pittance’, experts in the Education Department say the state government’s allocations for the sector do nothing to bail the state out of the educational crisis and quagmire which educational institutes find themselves in.

While the top sops for the primary education in the state include a Rs 21 crore allocation for primary schools furniture, Rs 10 crore for computers and Rs 5.25 crores for green boards, experts ask that how the government plan to satiate the needs of the 26,000 primary schools in the state with this meagre amount.

In the higher education, provisions for grant-in-aid posts and on the government front, demands for regularisation of staff had been the key demands, on which the budget remains mum.

Harjinder Khaira, member, State Committee of the Education Providers Union said, “Grants of hundreds of crores are needed for schools if the furniture needs are really to be fulfilled. About Rs 1,000 or more is charged for a single well-made desk. In such a scenario how the government plans to accommodate Rs 21 crore for furniture across 26,000 primary schools in the state is best known to it. While the decision to start pre-nursery classes for primary schools by the government, has been a step in the right direction, the budget has largely disappointed on key needs. There have also been murmurs of rendering many schools in primary sector as surplus. So many schools with less than 30 students shall be closed. That will also generate a separate crisis as according to the RTE, there should be a school at every one kilometre. Teachers are the backbone of the education sector – from regularisation to salaries – the budget is mum on their needs.”

In terms of Higher education as well, the mood within the teaching community remains pensive. PCCTU secretary Tejinder Virli said, “The budget doesn’t say anything substantial on higher education which is facing a crisis in Punjab. There is now new fund dedicated for the purpose of higher education. Of the 6,000 grant-in-aid posts in the state, only 2,000 posts are filled. While we had also met the Finance Minister both before and after the elections regarding review of the provisions under the grant-in-aid scheme as per the 1986 posts’ review, the same has eluded us so far. 

Also, in 13 colleges (started during the Akali government) operating under various universities, there is a serious lack of permanent posts as even principals are not permanent. The government’s budget makes some populist promises, but some concerted efforts and stringent action is needed to rescue the state from the education crisis it finds itself in. The budget draws a blank in this aspect.”