Nepalgunj, December 1:

Minister for Education and Sports Pradip Nepal today complained that the government is not investing adequate funds for the education sector and that the budget is not enough to pay salary to schoolteachers.

Half of the budget allotted as salary for the teachers comes from foreign aid, minister Nepal said while inaugurating a building of Gyanodaya Higher Secondary School to mark the school’s 30th anniversary at Khajura of Banke.

“The education sector will be forced to expect foreign aid until it manages to stand on its own resources,” he said. “There is foreign pressure in the education sector as the foreign aid is helping pay the teachers,” he said. “We have time and again asked the finance ministry to provide additional budget for the education sector, but the demand has gone unheard,” he said. Vice chairman of Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) Dr Upendra Koirala, CDO Narendraraj Sharma and acting District Education Officer Dabal BC, among others, spoke on the occasion. Meanwhile, minister Nepal also inaugurated a mid-western regional seminar on Concept of school education and concern of higher secondary school, organised by the HSEB here today.