Grants to schools come under govt lens

The state government has said that it is conducting an enquiry into the allegations of misuse of government funds in both government schools and grant-in-aid (GIA) schools.

Speaking to Business Standard on the recent newspaper reports about alleged misuse of government funds, deputy chief minister and finance minister Siddaramaiah, said, "These are being enquired into. Punitive action will be taken against anybody responsible for any misappropriations. The general approach of the government to this sector is to treat it as one of the top most priorities. Education builds the moral fibre and socio-economic skills of our future generations. Thus while it is necessary to invest adequately in this sector to improve access, it is equally necessary to ensure quality and accountability."

However, as part of the state's plans for expenditure management and projections in the Medium Term Fiscal Plan for Karnataka 2004-05 to 2007-08, it has been pointed out that grant-in-aid is an inefficient and less effective way of deploying funds to meet the obligations of the government.
"This is brought out by the fact that while the GIA system appropriates almost 35 per cent of funds allocated for government salary expenditure, it only educates 24 per cent of the total number of students who go to government institutions," says the MTFP.

According to MTFP, "The revamp and rationalisation of the GIA system though announced in the subsequent Budget Speeches every year from 2000-01 is yet to be implemented."

On this Siddaramaiah said, "The policy of grant-in-aid to private institutions was meant to fill the gaps in government infrastructure and service provision. However, education remains a primary responsibility of government itself and we have to find adequate funds to directly invest in this key nation building activity."

Siddaramaiah indicated that the government is ready to go to the extent of stopping the loans being extended to certain institutions over a long period in order ensure that the money could be channelised to reach those that are in need of funds.

Stating that the state spends more on grant-in-aid in a year than it does on the outlays on health or social welfare, Siddaramaiah added, "Our objective should be to improve the quality of instruction delivered in the government institutions by re-channelising the savings from reforms in grant-in-aid. We have to ensure that the aid does not become an end in itself and these schools, after a certain period of subsidised existence, are encouraged and empowered to stand on their own. This would also mean that institutions which have been receiving aid for long periods would have to give way to institutions in areas which are hitherto inadequately covered in terms education infrastructure."