J&K SED faces cut in annual allocations under Samagra Shiksha during past years

Srinagar, Jan 14: The School Education Department (SED) of Jammu and Kashmir has experienced a suitable cut in the annual allocation of funds from the Ministry of Education (MoE) Government of India (GoI) under Samagra Shiksha Scheme for various components over the last two financial years.

As per the official documents, it has been revealed that the central allocation to J&K UT's SED plummeted from Rs 3649.718 crores in 2022-23 to a mere Rs 2452.725 crores in 2023-24.

A top official attributed the decrease in central share to the department's failure to utilise 100 percent of the allocated funds in the past two fiscal years.

According to the official, the funds are released to the J&K's finance department, which subsequently releases them to the Samagra Shiksha in installments.

"There is always a delay in transaction of funds from the finance department to Samagra Shiksha which results in underutilisation of funds and ultimately impacts the overall share from the Ministry of Education," the official said.

As per the official statistics released by the MoE, Jammu and Kashmir received Rs 740 crore in the 2019-20 financial year which later decreased to Rs 385.57 crore in 2020-21.

The allocation saw a temporary increase to Rs 873.98 crores in 2021-22 but sharply dropped to Rs 364.97 crores in 2022-23 and further to Rs 245.27 crores in 2023-24.

"The annual allocation is allocated on the basis of the annual works plan presented by the SED in the Project Approval Board (PB) meeting  every year. But some portion of the funds remain unutilised which result in the decline of share from the Ministry of Education," the official said.

He said the funds are released to the J&K's finance department which later releases the funds to the Samagra Shiksha in installments.

"The unspent funds of the previous year are considered as the opening balance in the next financial year and subsequently funds are released on the basis of the performance of the utilisation of funds in the previous year," he said.

In addition to the general allocation, the SED has received funds for various components. In 2020-21, Rs 1472 crores were allocated for various works out of which Rs 1183 crore were utilized. In 2021-22, Rs 1320 crores were released, and Rs 770 crores were utilized, while in 2022-23, Rs 1650 crores were released, of which Rs 1275 crores were utilised.

Under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme, the SED received Rs 12.43 crores in 2021-22 and Rs 20 crores in 2022-23 for setting up Smart Class systems. Additionally, under the PM POSHAN scheme, the SED received varying amounts over the financial years, ranging from Rs 26.66 crores in 2019-20 to Rs 45.89 crores in 2023-24.

As per the official documents, the SED got approval and sanction for various infrastructure development projects in government schools from 2014 to October 2023.

The SED got approval for 25123 classrooms out of which 20246 were completed till October 2023.

Out of 10095 Boys toilets approved from 2014 to October 2023, around 5184 were completed  and out of 2928 drinking water facilities, 2483 have been completed.

The SED also got approval for 19162 out of which 18554 have been completed till October 2023.

Also, the SED got approval for 10326 new primary school buildings  out of which 9413 were completed till October 2023. The SED got approval for 1145 new Upper primary schools out of which 1046 were completed.

Also, the J&K received the first installment of Rs 26.19 crore under the PM Shri scheme for strengthening of infrastructure in government schools.