E-Paper
Samagra Shiksha scheme: Funds delayed, Punjab urges Centre to release its share
Union ministry of education approved a budget of ₹1,298 crore on April 27 for school education in Punjab under the Centrally-sponsored scheme
The Punjab government has asked the Centre to release the first tranche of funds approved for school education under Samagra Shiksha programme for the financial year 2023-24.
The state government has made a request to the Union ministry of education as it has not received the Central government’s share of funds even though four months of the financial year have lapsed, according to two officials aware of the development.
The ministry of education had on April 27 approved a budget of ₹1,298 crore for school education in Punjab under the Centrally-sponsored scheme. The Centre and state governments jointly fund the flagship programme on a 60:40 sharing basis.
Of the total sanctioned budget, ₹709 crore is the given by the Centre, and the remaining amount of ₹589 crore is contributed by the state government. “The department has requested the Central ministry for its share of funds. We have been assured that the first installment of the Centre’s share will be released shortly,” one of the officials quoted above said. The department has been meeting its expenditure from the spillover amount of ₹280.64 crore from the previous financial year.
The pace of release of funds by the Government of India (GoI) to states under the scheme has been a matter of concern. “The pace of Centre releasing the funds has been slow,” a Delhi-based research group said in its report. It said till November 30, 2022, 60% of the total Centre allocations for FY 2022-23 had been released to the states, and this pace was slightly better than that of in FY 2021-22, when till October 2021 only 40% was released.
The annual work plan and budget (AWP&B) proposal of Punjab was sanctioned by the project approval board of Samagra Shiksha on April 27 to meet the recurring and non-recurring expenditure on initiatives for improvement in infrastructure and quality of education as well as teacher training under the integrated scheme for school education. It includes ₹886 crore for elementary education (Class 1 to 8) and ₹398 crore for secondary education (Class 8 to 12), according to minutes of the PAB meeting issued by the department of school education and literacy on May 16.
The funds were sanctioned for upgrade of schools, opening new government schools, strengthening existing schools, solar panels, quality interventions, digital initiatives, outdoor play material for pre-primary classes, etc. For teacher education and training institutes, including State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), a sum of ₹14 crore was allocated. The PAB, while appraising the state’s plan proposal, flagged the increase in the school dropout rate. It asked the state authorities to take measures to reduce the dropout rate and retention rate. Another issue that drew attention was the decline in net enrolment ratio (NER), particularly at secondary and senior secondary levels.
