The Sindh government has granted financial powers to school heads in order to financially empower public schools across the province.
Officials said that acting on the directives of Sindh’s Minister for Education Syed Sardar Ali Shah, the School Education & Literacy Department has made significant progress under the School Specific Budget (SSB) initiative by designating 31,633 school heads as drawing and disbursing officers (DDOs) for the utilisation of funds.
Shah said, “School heads should treat their official responsibility as a social responsibility and play their role in improving the condition of schools.” He further clarified that the designation of school heads aims to make the administrative system more effective and efficient.
An office order issued by the department has appointed principals, headmasters, headmistresses, and in-charge headmasters as DDOs. The funds released to schools will be utilized under the relevant cost centers.
All funds for the financial year 2025–26 will be spent after fulfilling the required codal formalities, while to ensure continuity of the initiative, DDO assignments will not be changed until June 30, 2026.
In case of retirement or demise of a school head, the department will immediately designate a new head. Existing DDOs will remain responsible for exercising financial powers during their tenure to ensure timely resolution of school-related matters.
The Sindh Education Department has also uploaded the list of DDOs on its web portal, enabling district treasury offices to directly verify DDO charges and facilitating school heads administratively.
For the first time in the country, financial authority has been devolved to schools under the School Specific Budget, through which Rs18.67 billion has been released. Complete details of these funds have also been made available on the department’s web portal to ensure public oversight and transparency in the utilization of funds.
