5 percent of budget of district department reserved for government school infra

Nagpur: The state government has decided to reserve about 5% of the annual district development budget for various schemes related to school education.

Varsha Gaikwad, Education Minister, has said in a public statement that many schemes are being run in each district through district councils. And still, there will be streamlined to focus on funding priority areas.

Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad has also said that about 5% amount from the annual plan of different districts of Maharashtra is still reserved for spending on school education. This provision is in addition to the development expenditure from the budget of the (Education) department. Because of this, his plan to enhance the school infrastructure will get a big boost.

Along with this, the priority areas are those which have been mentioned under the Performance Grading Index (PGI) of the Central Government. According to the Performance Grading Index, the broader domains are learning outcomes, access, infrastructure and facilities, equity, and governance processes as well.

The education department of the state has identified only those schemes which have become redundant due to overlapping of central schemes. For example, the state’s government schools were also implementing the completely free uniforms and books scheme, But still, the funding for this comes under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) of the Central Government. Similarly, funds are also coming in from various sources including the World Bank’s campaign called STARS to improve the quality of education.

Speedy implementation of the work orders

Because of this, the state has also streamlined all these already running schemes into very specific categories. And in the same way, redundant schemes have also been completely wiped out and money has also been invested in the new integrated campaign. Strengthening the infrastructure in government schools is also a priority right now.

An education official also pointed out that the schools are asked about the status of their own infrastructure on a very regular basis.

But with the increase in funding yet and the duplication of existing schemes being completely eliminated, the officials are also expecting a lot of speedy implementation of the work orders. Officials have said that ultimately it all comes down to money. If the government is reserving about 5% of funds exclusively for school education, Then it helps a lot. They know very well that this much money will come in the end and this helps them move forward much faster.

These funds are only for government schools, which are mainly run by the Zilla Parishad.

Also Read: Nagpur Division Completes SSC, HSC Assessment