*Central assistance worth crores lying unspent
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 10: Lakhs of students of educationally backward blocks of Jammu and Kashmir are being deprived of benefits of two major flagship schemes of the Union Government during the past several years due to the administrative inertia as assistance worth crores of rupees provided by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development is lying unspent.
The prevailing situation has been viewed very seriously by the new Minister for Education, Naeem Akhtar, who has sought detailed reports from the Secretary of School Education Department within shortest possible time so that those responsible for non-implementation of various components of these schemes are taken to task.
These schemes—Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) are aimed at providing quality education to the children at the secondary and elementary levels. Under RMSA, the model schools of the level of senior secondary are established to provide quality education to the rural children in educationally backward blocks while as under SSA, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas are set-up at upper primary level for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minority communities.
Moreover, under SSA, there are provisions for training of teachers, research and evaluation for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the educational practices so as to move towards the goal of achieving quality in education.
However, all the aspects of these schemes were never taken seriously by the concerned authorities for years together as a result of which lakhs of students remained deprived of benefits of the programmes of the Union HRD Ministry, highly placed sources in the School Education Department, Civil Secretariat told EXCELSIOR.
Under RMSA scheme, the HRD Ministry sanctioned 100 model schools for the educationally backward blocks of J&K during the period between 2011 and 2013 and an amount of around Rs 25 crore was kept at the disposal of concerned authorities in Jammu and Kashmir as 50% Central assistance. While releasing this amount, the HRD Ministry conveyed to the State that remaining amount would be released on the utilization of Rs 25 crore, sources said.
Though educationally backward blocks were identified for establishment of model schools but thereafter no progress was made as a result of which entire amount of Rs 25 crore remained unspent, they said, adding opening of model schools was kept under carpet on the pretext that 40 kanals of land required for the purpose in case of each school was not available instead of persuading the HRD Ministry for some sort of relaxation keeping in view the topography of the State.
“The result of the slackness and administrative inertia is that not even single model school could be established till date”, sources informed.
Similarly, during the period between 2006-07 and 2011-12, HRD Ministry sanctioned a total of 99 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas for Jammu and Kashmir and earmarked sufficient funds for construction of buildings for all these residential schools. However, the slackness of the engineering wing of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan led to spillover of the work on each of these 99 residential schools, which resulted into escalation of the project costs and subsequent non-completion of the buildings, sources informed.
“Out of these 99 residential schools only two—one each in Srinagar and Leh districts are functioning in own buildings and rest of others are functioning from rented accommodations ever since their sanctioning by the HRD Ministry”, sources informed, adding “the functioning of 97 KGBVs in rented accommodation is against the spirit of the scheme”.
The non-implementation of these schemes in letter and spirit was viewed very seriously by new Minister for Education Naeem Akhter, while reviewing the functioning of the School Education Department and its wings the other day.
“It is really a matter of concern that lakhs of students have been deprived of benefits of these schemes despite sufficient funding from the Union Ministry”, he said when contacted, adding “I have directed Secretary School Education Department to submit reports on both these aspects so that corrective steps could be taken and noose is tightened around those who were supposed to vigorously follow the developments vis-à-vis implementation of schemes”.
When asked, he said, “it is really shocking that in the past major focus always remained on transfers of teachers and masters instead of initiating steps for implementation of schemes in order to provide benefits to the targeted population”.
The Minister has also taken serious note of non-implementation of provisions for training of teachers, research and evaluation for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the educational practices, which otherwise is imperative to move towards the goal of achieving quality in education, sources said.
Mr Akhtar has come to know that training of teachers is being conducted in most unprofessional manner while as there is absolutely no focus on research aspect thereby defeating the objective of SSA’s Research Evaluation Monitoring and Supervision component.
Even the department has not laid required focus on vocational education component of RMSA as a result of which vocational courses could not be started in any of the schools in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said while informing that Minister has expressed regret over this aspect also.
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