The J&K government has released over Rs 58 crore to J&K for maintenance of school buildings.
The funds were allocated by Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) as annual school grants to Directorate of Samagra Shiksha which has further released them to Chief Education Officers (CEOs) of all district for utilization.
The CEOs have been asked to constitute district level committees to monitor proper utilization of the funds.
“The funds are recurring grant and should be spent on replacement of non-functional equipments and other recurring activities,” reads a document.
It says 10 percent of the funds shall be utilised on Swachta Action Plan (SAP) as per the MHRD guidelines. At least 800 schools which were clubbed by the government in 2015 with nearest schools for having meager or zero enrollment of students have been included under the grant package.
In Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) – database of information about schools in India – the clubbed schools are counted as separate schools and receive annual grants from the MHRD.
Meanwhile, as per the official document, Samagra Shiksha Directorate has asked the CEOs that the Schools can carry out minor repair, refurbishing and maintenance work as per the requirement for upkeep of the infrastructure.
“The funds should be utilised after observing all codal formalities and no deviation of funds whatsoever will be allowed. Proper books of accounts of the expenditure incurred shall be maintained as per the prescribed norms,” read the guidelines.