‘Nearest School the Best School’ Rs 4b in arrears
View(s):‘Nearest School the Best School’ programme has run into difficulties, with an outstanding bill of Rs 4 billion, for costs incurred in the past 3 months. Ministry of Education (MoE) sources said it was unable to make payments to the Provincial Education offices, to conduct the programme and hence, there is a delay in its implementation.
The Treasury collects all the bills, but the reimbursement is delayed by several months, MoE sources said. The Prime Minister has instructed the Treasury to ensure this project is given priority and the money reimbursed as soon as possible, but this has not happened, they said.
This year all Provinces should receive Rs 2,100 million in total, to implement the project. Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariawasam said that, as Provinces have not been able to implement the project on their own, Supervisors’ offices are to be set up in each Province, which will comprise of Engineers, Accountants and others needed for the project.
He said there was a shortage of people for these supervisory roles, which was also delaying the project. There are 13,087 ongoing activities related to this project. These include new classrooms, buildings, teachers’ quarters, principals’ quarters, cafeterias, sports complexes, electricity supply, sanitary facilities, water supply and healthcare facilities. - Damith Wickremasekera