Tablets worth millions disappear from KP education department

PESHAWAR: An audit report has revealed that a large number of tablets purchased by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Department for teacher training have gone missing.

A total of 15,000 tablets, worth Rs 374 million, were procured for the training of teachers recruited in 2022-2023. However, only 1,779 tablets were returned by teachers, leaving 13,221 tablets unaccounted for.

Also read: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s electricity theft reaches an alarming Rs120b

The audit report also highlights that 79 of the recovered tablets were found to be damaged, with missing accessories such as hands-free devices, SD cards, and chargers. The cost of one missing tablet is Rs 28,314.

In response to the findings, the Auditor General has directed the department to recover the missing tablets and take action against the teachers responsible for the loss. The Education Department, however, has refused to comment on the matter. If the tablets are not recovered, the department will be required to purchase replacements for future teacher training programs.

AGP FINDS CORRUPTION WORTH 100 BILLION IN KP

In June this year, at a time when the provincial authorities have already been facing allegations, the AGP unearthed massive irregularities, embezzlement and corruption in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been campaigning against and accusing other parties, especially the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), of corruption. However, the party is unable to fix the problem in its own province.

The annual audit report for the year 2024-25 showed massive corruption amounting to Rs100 billion, including hundreds of fake expenditures, bogus payments, corruption and unnecessary expenses.

In this connection, the report also cited dozens of instances where tenders and contracts in the Works Department showed financial irregularities.

Meanwhile, these figures pertain to 20 departments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province ruled by the PTI since 2013.

Also read: Corruption-free Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? Audit finds over Rs100bn irregularities

The Energy and Power Department remained atop the list with Rs29,005.82 million in recorded corruption, followed by Mines Development at Rs17,980.729 million and Finance department at Rs16,766.799 million.

It is interesting to note that, the corruption charges – starting with the Billion Tree Tsunami and BRT Peshawar – coincided with the provincial government’s unending borrowing spree.