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PESHAWAR The lawmakers on Thursday criticised the education department for forcing heads of public sector schools to buy an encyclopedia for their institutions. Both the treasury and opposition benches in NWFP Assembly termed it misuse of funds. PPP parliamentary leader Abdul Akbar Khan raised the issue in the house at an adjournment motion.
Each encyclopedia consisting of 10 issues costs Rs5,000 that is being paid from the fund allocated for Parent Teacher Council (PTC), a body that oversee routine day-to-day affairs of the schools ranging from maintenance to minor development.
It was the domain of the parents and teachers to utilise PTC fund rather than high-ups of the school and literacy department, Mr Khan said.
PML-N parliamentary leader Pir Sabir Shah supported the move and said PTC fund was supposed to be utilised according to the needs of the schools.
He, however, argued that about 90 per cent PTC fund was misused partly because of the high-ups of the education department. He asked the government to probe corruption in the education sector.
Saqibullah Chamkani of ANP also criticised the current state of affairs of the PTC funding. He said that most of the schools in his constituency were short of staff and they had hired private teachers being paid from the PTC fund.
'If the high-ups of education departments misuse PTC fund, how the school administration will manage to pay the private teachers,' he said.
Provincial Minister for Schools and Literacy Sardar Hussain Babak said that education ministry had suggested buying encyclopedia to build up the capacity of teachers.
Acting Speaker Khushdil Khan asked the minister that on whose directives he had forced the schools to buy the encyclopedia. However, Mr Babak skipped his question.
The matter was referred to the committee concerned. MPA Yasmeen Zia said that 54 primary schools for girls had been closed since long in Lakki Marwat and teachers posted there were receiving salaries at home.
'Some teachers are working abroad while drawing salaries here because they pay commission to the black sheep in EDO office,' she alleged. She demanded of the government to take action against the EDO. The minister said that girls' schools had been closed because law and order situation was not stable in Lakki Marwat.
Saqibullah Chamkanni tabled the NWFP Preventive Health Bill, 2009 while Mohammad Zameen Khan introduced the Provincial Motor Vehicles (NWFP) Amendment Bill, 2009.
