More funds for education sought

The department of elementary education is hoping to obtain 20 per cent hike in its budgetary allocation in the next fiscal. Department officials said the raise would be utilised mainly for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)scheme. The hike is likely to take the total amount of allocation to the department to Rs 15,000 crore.

The department's budgetary allocation was raised 56 per cent last year from Rs 8,000 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 12,531 crore in the 2005-06 fiscal.

Out of the total amount allocated to the SSA, Rs 4,148 crore have already been utilised by the end of August, "The primary reason behind the additional funds is that the department has been able to utilise more than 50 per cent of the allocation in the first six months of the financial year," an official said.

The SSA scheme, launched to provide elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years by 2010, has a budget of Rs 7156 crore for this fiscal, compared with Rs 5120 crore in the last financial year.

The scheme was given 30 per cent additional funds this fiscal.

The SSA scheme and the mid-day meal scheme together accounted for 84 per cent of the total budget of the department for the year 2005-06 and for 2004-05.