Education Secretary Cites Major Issues in Settling Old Audit Discrepancies for School Buildings

Kathmandu. Education Secretary Chudamani Poudel has stated that there is a big problem in settling old audit discrepancies related to school building construction under the Ministry of Education.

Speaking at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee, he said that most of the audit discrepancies related to the budget allocated for school building construction through the former District Education Office are still pending.

According to him, audit discrepancies remain unsettled due to a lack of necessary documents and evidence even after the completion of building construction. He informed that there is a shortage of accounting and technical manpower in the coordination units under the ministry and that work is being carried forward by requesting local levels.

Secretary Poudel said that the problem has become complicated because while the entire responsibility of school management has been transferred to the local levels, the audit discrepancies remain with the ministry. He stated that the settlement process would have been easier if the audit discrepancies had also been transferred to the local levels.

According to him, audit discrepancies for school buildings constructed between 2065 and 2070 BS are still pending. He mentioned that the old audit discrepancies remain even for some buildings that were destroyed by the 2072 earthquake and for which new buildings have now been constructed.

Secretary Poudel said, 'In the past, money used to go from the District Education Office to schools for school building construction. These are the discrepancies that could not be settled after the building construction was completed. Now, the problem we are facing in settlement is that we do not have accounting staff in our coordination units, nor do we have technical manpower. We are somehow requesting the local levels. All rights related to schools have been transferred to the local levels by policy, but the discrepancies remain with us. It would have been a bit easier if this had been transferred together, because the local levels have direct manpower and would know what remains to be done for the construction of which school.'

Secretary Poudel also said that the ministry has started moving towards a digital system for managing audit discrepancies. He informed that the details of all audit discrepancies under the ministry have been digitized and records of how much discrepancy exists in which location are being kept through a digital platform. However, he stated that efforts are being made to reconcile the figures pointed out by the Office of the Auditor General with the ministry's digital records, as they have not matched. (News Agency Nepal)