BHUBANESWAR: Even as the National Education Policy (NEP) recommends that at least six per cent of the GDP be spent on education, the School and Mass Education (SME) department has been surrendering substantial portions of its budget over the years, exposing systemic gaps in planning, utilisation and creation of educational infrastructure in Odisha.
The latest Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has flagged that the SME department surrendered Rs 1,159.31 crore between 2019 and 2022 from allocations meant specifically for capital expenditure. This, the audit observed, is indicative of the department’s inability to create tangible assets despite widespread damaged infrastructure across schools in the sampled districts.
The SME department had a total budget provision of Rs 92,483.18 crore between 2018-19 and 2022-23. Of this, Rs 11,138.93 crore, about 12 per cent was surrendered, including the Rs 1,159.31 crore earmarked for capital expenditure.
The CAG found persistent savings and surrender of funds every year, ranging from 5 per cent in 2022-23 to 18 per cent in 2021-22. An increase in the department’s absolute budget from Rs 15,737 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 21,558 crore in 2022-23 notwithstanding, its share in the overall state budget declined from 11.61 per cent to 9.64 per cent during the same period.
According to the audit findings, Odisha’s public spending on education has remained significantly below the NEP benchmark, hovering between 3.5 per cent of the GSDP in 2018-19 and 3.27 per cent in 2022-23. The percentage of spending declined gradually in the last three years of the audit period. Serious discrepancies were also flagged in implementation of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan where the Centre and state share funds in a 60:40 ratio.
The CAG found that both the Union and the Odisha governments released substantial portions of their contributions at the fag end of the financial year.
“While the Centre released Rs 1,141.22 crore, the state released its matching share of Rs 1,182.86 crore only in March each year during 2018-23. This delayed release left little time for spending under the scheme, leading to large unspent balances and forcing the Union government to adjust the amounts from its subsequent year’s allocations,” the report stated.
As per Manual of Financial Management and Procurement (FMP) of Samagra Shiksha, the Union government would release up to 25 per cent of the expenditure incurred under the scheme against recurring activities of the previous year as ad-hoc grant during the month of April-May and the states/ UTs may utilise the unspent balance of the previous year for the recurring activities approved during the current year.
The audit noticed that Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) retained huge unspent recurring balances at the close of each financial year, ranging from Rs 199.37 crore to Rs 694.30 crore, during 2018-23. Consequently, the Centre curtailed the committed central share to the extent of Rs 369.1 crore during 2019-22.