The federal government has been making tall claims regarding its efforts in the fields of education and health. However, the ground reality seems to be fairly contradictory as these claims have all been proven to be merely superficial.
And here’s why. The government approved billions of rupees under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2016-17 for both, health and education sectors. But only a meager share of the allocated funds was actually spent on betterment of healthcare and education in the country.
Opposition parties have often claimed that education and health have never been amongst the current government’s priorities. The World Bank also made similar claims regarding the government’s list of priorities when it comes to these two essential sectors.
During the current year, the government earmarked bigger proportion of funds for education and health sectors and several projects were also announced regarding both sectors. However, nearly no work has been done using PSDP funds.
The government released a total of Rs. 3,462.24 million for various projects. however, the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) only utilized a minor share of Rs. 582.4 million during the complete year. As a result of this, the remaining funds were wasted and the ministry had to surrender Rs. 2,979.80 million back to the government.
Government documents state:
“An amount of Rs. 2,059.46 million had been allocated in the budget 2016-17 for 11 projects of education; however only Rs. 243.3 million were utilized and the remaining Rs. 1,816.17 million were not utilized.”
Rs. 1,000 million were sidelined for the renovation and rehabilitation of the physical infrastructure of 200 educational institutes under the PM’s education sector reforms in Islamabad. However, not a single rupee was utilized and the project remained just as an empty announcement.
Similarly, 11 health related projects amounting to Rs. 717.29 million were initially planned but only Rs. 206.9 million were spent while the remaining Rs. 510.39 million went un-utilized and the projects were never completed.
A sum of Rs. 751.1 million was allocated to Capital Development Authority (CDA) for four projects in Islamabad but only Rs. 628.9 million has been surrendered to the government.
Documents also show that Rs. 34.36 million were allocated for two special education projects while only Rs. 10.02 million got used.
