Dhaka, (Barta24.com): In 2010 the educational institutions were included in the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) scheme. But during last ten years no institution was included further in the MPO scheme. The Education Ministry concerned said that due to inadequate allocation in the budget the scheme got stalled.
However the good news for the teachers is that in the next budget of 2019-20 there will be special allocation for new MPO inclusion. Primarily the amount may be Taka one thousand crore. The Finance Ministry officials told that the long pending scheme might get nod in the next budget.
The Finance Ministry sources said that in every budget of Awami League government the education sector is given importance, the allocation was increased. Still the MPO inclusion was done only in 2010 for once and not done for the next consecutive budgets. During this time many educational institutions were established but running without government assistance. This displeasure led to wage a county wide movement by the teachers last year. The government in response has started taking applications for new MPO scheme.
It was seen later on that about 9500 on line applications were done. The Education Ministry has considered 2762 prayers as fit cases for MPO. Of those 1629 schools and colleges under Secondary and Higher Education Directorate, 551 institutions under Technical and Madrasha division and 582 technical institutions.
According to Finance Ministry if these institutions are included in MPO list then there will be extra expenditure of Taka 1247 crore. The Education Ministry has already demanded this enhanced budget allocation while this MPO inclusion head at present has only Taka 432 crore. So it is impossible to bring so many institutions under new MPO scheme with this meager budget amount. Accordingly the Education Ministry has demanded extra budget allocation in the next budget. So there will be a special budget allocation to meet the enhanced expenditure which will be around Taka one thousand crore.
Primarily the Education Ministry has prepared a list of 332 schools and 299 colleges and accordingly Taka 242.51 crore for schools and Taka 627 crore for colleges will be required in the budget allocation. Apart from it the rest amount will be earmarked for Madrashas.
Finance Minister AHM Mostofa Kamal said that it is not possible to bring under MPO scheme so many institutions at a time rather it will be included in phases within three years.
Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni has also told in the Sangsad that in phases 2000 educational institutions will be brought under MPO scheme.
The expenditure in education sector in the current budget has been estimated to Taka 53 thousand 504 crore which is 11.4 percent of the total budget allocation. In the budget of 2017-18 the allocation in education was 12.6 percent of total budget allocation. However in the current budget in education 2.09 percent in relation to GDP which is equivalent to last year.
There are total 26180 educational institutions MPO listed. Of them the number of schools is 16197, college 2365, Madrasha 7618. The government spends Taka 14182 crore annually which is more than 63 percent of education ministry’s total budget.
According to Finance Ministry the institutions of 9000 who have applied Taka 3000 crore will be required annually if granted MPO.
According to Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Directorate the number of non MPO schools and colleges is 7142. If these are included in MPO list it will require extra Taka 2184 crore 52 lakh 250 annually.