7,000 Insaf Afternoon Schools could be closed due to inadequate funds
The country might see as many as seven thousand such schools close in the province due to the scarcity of funds needed to run them.
According to reports, the future of the ‘Insaf Afternoon Schools’ program in the province of Punjab could be in jeopardy. The country might see as many as seven thousand such schools close in the province due to the scarcity of funds needed to run them.
News sources have revealed that if these schools do not get the necessary funds for another month, they will have to be shut down. Furthermore, due to this difficulty, thousands of teachers have not been given their pay for four months, which has put them under financial constraints.
The teachers have demanded that the Punjab government clears their salaries. It is important to mention here that the School Education Department has already started closing Insaf schools that don’t have an adequate enrolment of students.
The spokesman of the School Education Department said that teachers will be paid their dues as soon as the funds are received. On the other hand, while the government of Punjab is making excuses for not having sufficient funds to finance the project, it has allotted Rs3.5 billion to run the administrative affairs of government schools across the province. Out of the total amount, Rs140 million has been given to government schools in Lahore.
The Insaf Afternoon School Programme was launched with the aim of providing education to children in areas where there is limited access to schools. The aim of this program was to upgrade the primary and middle schools to middle and high school levels, letting students transition into higher grades within the same schools.
The School Education Department (SED) was to release Rs1.6 billion in development funds but was unable to do so. The administrations of these schools have also written to the SED but despite that, the amount has not been paid.
What are your views on this? Share in the comments bar below.
