Construction work is on at a smart senior secondary school in Ludhiana. As the school has more students and less space to accommodate them, it is important for them to get the extra room ready for the coming session. School officials have barely kept the work going from their own pockets as they lack funds.  “We are for now using money out of our own pocket, but that can’t go on for long,” said an official on the condition of anonymity. He revealed that physical payment advices (PPAs) worth ₹3 to 4 lakh were pending.  The education department has ordered the schools to stop generating PPAs, a receipt generated in the public financial management system (PFMS). PFMS is a portal used by the Centre to directly send funds to schools so that they can use them. After the allocation, the schools can directly access these funds earmarked under various heads. After a particular work is done, the school initiates a transfer of funds to the vendor on the portal and generates a PPA, which then has to be submitted to the bank that carries the school account and the payment is completed after verification. A school principal from Ludhiana, upon requesting anonymity, revealed that the block primary education officer (BPEO) asked them to not generate PPA.

Source-HT