The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment on Monday pulled up the Union government for the delay in approving the continuation of the Scheme for Providing Education to Madrasas/Minorities (SPEMM), which provides for financial assistance to madrasas and minority institutes.
The scheme has two sub-schemes - the Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM) and Infrastructure Development of Minority Institutes (IDMI) - and was transferred from the Ministry of Minority Affairs to the Ministry of Education in 2021.
The committee noted that the fate of the scheme continued to hang in the balance with the government yet to approve the draft Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) memorandum for its continuation. It noted that even the NITI Aayog had recommended that the scheme be continued beyond March 31, 2022.
Given the transfer of the scheme, the committee said it had desired the Ministry to complete the process of the EFC note on the mechanism to implement the schemes. But it said it was “surprised” to note that despite the NITI Aayog’s recommendation to continue the scheme, the EFC memorandum was “still under finalisation”.
“The committee feels that a decision for continuation of any scheme is very crucial not only for the beneficiaries but also for States/Union Territories/implementing agencies and delay on such matters adversely affects the purpose of the scheme,” the Parliamentary panel said, adding that the Ministry should have expedited the matter.
“As evident from records, only proposals from nine States under SPQEM and proposal from five States for 2021-22 under IDMI were approved,” the committee said.
It added, “The committee also feels that the effectiveness of the schemes may get impacted due to participation of limited number of States/UTs. They desire that the Ministry should take all-out efforts for expeditious approval of the EFC memorandum and thereafter make efforts to get better response from States/UTs.”
