Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 25: Expressing serious concern over poor implementation of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan by the School Education Department, the Committee on Estimates of Legislative Assembly has recommended that an Expert Committee must be constituted to monitor functioning of these Centrally Sponsored Schemes in the State.
In its report tabled in the Legislative Assembly today, the Committee on Estimates headed by Dr Mustafa Kamaal has observed that the School Education Department has established only 13 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) schools out of 99 such schools sanctioned under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the educationally backward blocks of the State having the female literacy rate much below than the national average. Under this scheme, the children are provided free boarding and lodging facilities in these institutions.
“It is ironical state of affairs that the department has not taken the scheme seriously and has failed to utilize the sanctioned funds within the stipulated time-frame thereby depriving the blocks of the benefits of this scheme”, the report said, adding “though the department has taken several initiatives for providing basic education to the migrant population but it has not succeeded in getting satisfactory results so far”.
The Committee has observed that an amount of Rs 1500 crore was sanctioned by the Union Government under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) (also a Centrally Sponsored Scheme) for the improvement of the education system across the State but the department has not able even to provide teachers and other basic facilities to the students in these schools so far.
“The department has failed to utilize the sanctioned funds within the stipulated time-frame”, the report said, adding “though these were non-lapsable funds but the department must agree that the estimated cost of the particular works for the current working season may definitely vary in the next working season on account of the trend of continuous price escalation”.
The academic batches may also get deprived of the facilities which they could have enjoyed if the works would have been completed well in time by utilizing the funds within the fixed time-frame, the report pointed out.
Regarding construction of school buildings, additional blocks, latrines, bathrooms and kitchen sheds under SSA, the Committee observed that the services of teaching staff were being utilized in connection with the construction of infrastructure and preparation of Mid-Day Meals as a result of which the studies of the students were getting affected adversely.
Though the Committee has appreciated the completion of 471 school buildings but it has expressed concern over non construction of toilets/bathrooms in the schools particularly in the girl schools. “Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme and in the light of the direction of the Supreme Court, the department was supposed to construct toilets/bathroom in every school of the State but the department has failed to provide this facility in the schools across the State”, the report said.
Regarding Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), the Committee observed that the scheme was launched in the year 2009 with the concept to provide affordable education to all the young persons for which the department had constructed/upgraded various schools and a four tier mechanism was adopted for the implementation of scheme.
In order to ascertain the status of implementation of scheme, the Committee sought detailed information about the meetings convened by Chief Secretary, Divisional Commissioners and District Development Commissioners. The panel even sought details regarding the construction/up-gradation of various schools under RMSA for the perusal of the members, the report said. However, the information was not furnished till the preparation of the draft report, the committee regretted.
About the performance of the Government schools, the Estimates Committee has observed that the private schools were leading in respect of quality education system and the Government schools were lagging behind in this regard despite having highly qualified teachers and a better infrastructure available in these institutions as compared to the private schools.
“The department needs to improve the result percentage of Government schools especially in respect of Board Examinations so that the people could happily/willingly seek admission for their kids there”, the Committee said.
The Committee has recommended that an expert committee comprising of educationists must be constituted to monitor the functioning of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes. “This Committee should periodically convene meetings in order to discuss the curriculum/syllabus besides deliberating upon other aspect and give its suggestions/recommendations for bringing quality improvement in the system taking into account the heavy load of the Note Books and the prescribed Text Books for pre-nursery class students”, the report said, adding “the technical committee of experts should also take stock of the infrastructure of the schools especially in respect of ensuring the availability of the basic facilities in all the schools”.
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