TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Goa government is working out a new pattern for making grants to schools, which would compel educational institutions to cut expenditure from the next academic year.
Sources in the education department say that the new pattern will work on granting a lump sum amount based on the salary grants, which may be 10 per cent of the salary grants within which the school will have to manage its expenditure.
Presently schools engage in certain works and incur expenditures within the admissible parameters and are reimbursed accordingly after submitting audited accounts to the government.
Under the new pattern, the government will sanction an amount based on salary grants and the educational institutions will have to manage expenditure within the amount allocated for the year.
This pattern is likely to be effected from the next academic year and will be placed before the cabinet for its approval.
Director of Education Anil Powar said that from the next academic year, a change has been proposed for sanction of grants, without divulging details. He stated, “The proposal is yet to be placed before the cabinet for its approval.”
The new pattern appears to be designed on the same lines as the Bal Rath Scheme where the government is now sanctioning a lump sum amount of Rs 3 lakh per vehicle for a year.
However sources say that schools are facing huge difficulties as 50 per cent of the amount goes towards salaries for Bal Rath staff, 30 per cent towards fuel, 10 per cent towards insurance and the remaining towards maintenance, leaving hardly any amount for replacing of spares, wear and tear.
Fears are that the proposed change in model of grants for schools may result in similar problems, even though the education department believes it will have no major effect on expenditure that schools have to incur for a given year.
“The model is being worked out taking in to consideration the expenditures incurred by an institution over the past two to three years,” said a source.
