Proposal to review non-salary grant policy

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Minister of State for School Education Pankaj Bhoyar informed the Legislative Council on Wednesday, that the government has proposed to review the existing non-salary grant policy provided to private schools. The statement came while responding to a calling attention motion raised by, MLC from the Marathwada Graduates’ constituency, Satish Chavan.

At present, around 14,000 private aided schools in the state receive only 5 per cent non-salary grants. This grant is based on the recommendations of the 5th Central Pay Commission, under which 1 per cent is allocated for building rent, while the remaining 4 per cent must cover expenses such as stationery, science materials, audit and other school requirements.

Chavan pointed out that the current 5 per cent grant is inadequate and asked whether the government would revise it according to the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. He also highlighted that many school buildings owned by institutions have become dilapidated and cannot be rebuilt with such limited funds. He therefore demanded that the government provide 50 per cent interest-free loans and 50 per cent grants for constructing new buildings.

Rs 268 crore provision in the budget

Responding to the motion, Bhoyar said that the state government has allocated Rs 268.99 crore in the 2025–26 budget for non-salary grants to private aided school institutions.

He added that the government currently owns around 65,000 schools across the state. Therefore, priority will first be given to constructing buildings for government schools. Once these are completed, the government will consider the construction of buildings for private aided schools in the next phase.

MLAs including Vikram Kale, Jayant Asgaonkar, Kishor Darade, Jagannath Abhyankar, Sudhakar Adbale, Abhijit Vanjari, Kiran Sarnayak and Dnyaneshwar Mhatre also participated in the discussion.