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Govt schools in a fix, await unused grants
Schools find themselves in a financial fix as they are unable to go ahead with developmental work and pay vendors.
Schools find themselves in a financial fix as they are unable to go ahead with developmental work and pay vendors. Earlier in March, unutilised periodical grants that were withdrawn by the education department, have still not been returned to the government schools.
Principal of a Government Senior Secondary School, disappointed by the delay, said, “We are being harassed as vendors have been making calls on a daily basis for us to clear their bills but due to funds being unavailable, we ourselves are helpless.” The principal further added that they were told that the grants would be re-issued within a month or two, but they still await the same. “A few schools have used a portion from amalgamated funds but a majority of them have not and now the vendors have made it clear that they will not be providing their services in future, which adds to our problems,” the principal added.
Lecturer Cadre Union district president Dharamjeet Singh Dhillon informed that several grants were issued in the months of January, February and March as well. “We were asked to utilise the grants within the same month in which they were issued. During the month of March, teachers were involved in election duties along with examinations, and it was not possible to utilise them then,” he said. He added that it has happened for the first time this year that the unutilised grants were withdrawn by the department. “The vendors have already provided us with GST bills, and they refuse to trust the school heads when they are informed about the situation. They have lost their trust in us and we have lost our trust in the department,” he further added.
In May, secondary education director general Vinay Bublani had assured that the grants will be reallocated to all the schools till July.
When questioned district education officer (elementary) Ravinder Kaur said, “We have written to the higher authorities and have been informed that the grants will be reallocated as soon as possible.”
