Daily Times

A Senate body on Wednesday rejected the Ministry of Education’s proposal for the launch of new development projects in fiscal year 2019-20, saying that it could not be wetted until the poor conditions of the existing educational institutions’ buildings were improved.

The Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training was briefed by Education Ministry officials on proposed new projects to be launched in the different educational institutions of the capital. The committee members, including Chairperson Senator Rahila Magsi, unanimously agreed that the projects would not be approved until current buildings’ structures were repaired to avoid any untoward incident in any institution. The senator said the collapse of any dilapidated building could harm the lives of innocent children/students.

“The current buildings’ structure should be improved first, and then start of new projects for construction of new building would be meaningful,” said Senator Noman Wazir, adding that the committee had the mandate to formulate any kind of law and the ministry was the actual entity to implement it. “Go ahead and propose a draft to send us if you need any kind of legislation in this regard,” he suggested to the Education Ministry official, who had informed the committee that the ministry had no legal authority to spend the money from other heads on repairing of the buildings.

The official said that out of 423 educational institutions, renovation work was underway at 223 institutions in the capital, and added that the ministry would conduct a comprehensive survey in the rest of educational institutions to examine which one needed revamping in its current building.

“We will compile a survey report within a month and submit the same to the committee,” the official said.

The official explained that the ministry had only two financial heads – recurring budget and development budget – adding that there was no separate budget for the repair of buildings.

When a senator asked whether the ministry had submitted its demands for renovation to the finance division or not, the official responded that they had submitted it multiple times, but due to non-availability of any law in this regard, the requests were turned down by the division.

An official of the planning division explained that no separate budgetary allocation had been made for renovation of any government building. He, however, informed the committee that as per law the standing committee had the prerogative to formulate the law in this regard and then the fiancé division would be bound to comply with the ruling given by the committee.

The senators said it was a very serious issue and should be resolved immediately. “As per my opinion, renovation of existing buildings of schools/colleges was more important than construction of new buildings.”

Senator Noman Wazir suggested taking up the matter on a priority basis, adding that colonial ‘babuism’ remained a hurdle in implementation of good strategies. “Unfortunately, we have ruined the system, due to which merit-based appointments are out of question,” he deplored.