SIRAHA: Most Madrasas in Siraha district are facing budgetary constraint due to the government's failure to timely allocate grants to them in the current fiscal year.

The government had been providing the grants assistance to the Madrasas ( Muslim schools) across the country for their management and operation.

The government is ,however, yet to provide the budget that Muslims schools here deserve for the current fiscal when just a day has been left for the current FY to end. Only a lower secondary Madrasa in the district received the amount in the current FY.

A registered Madrasa receives a lump amount of approximately Rs 200 thousand annually as grants through the respective District Education Office. There are a total of 61 registered Madrasas in the district.

As a result, the Madrasas in the district, which heavily depend on the grants, are facing a heap of problems ranging from providing remunerations to teachers to managing other operational cost, the concerned authorities complained.

"We are thrown into worry about how to run the school for want of budget as we are yet to receive the grants even when one day has been left for the current FY to end," said Mustak Aahamad, head teacher of Madrasa Allesulat at Lahan Municipality-9. "We do not know how to pay teachers and manage other resources to run the school."

The school has not been able to pay its teachers for the past six months, he said.

The school providing education to around 100 children has a total of four teachers (one on contract basis and the remaining from private resources).

The school's teachers and parents recently reached the DEO to enquire about the matter and urged the District Education Officer Arbinda Lal Karna to release the budget to the school at the earliest.

In response, Karna said the Department of Education was yet to release the budget meant for Madrasas, thus creating problem. "Despite repeated calls to the Department for the same, response is still awaited," he said.