news details |
|
|
| Politicians ‘misused’ central funds to build school buildings, 2000 found abandoned | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 18: Nearly 2000 school buildings constructed on the intervention of politicians in Jammu and Kashmir have been abandoned by the authorities, sources told Early Times. They alleged that the funds sanctioned under two Centrally Sponsored Schemes were misused by the politicians and these buildings were constructed without any actual requirement.
Sources said that the lists of these school buildings have been furnished to the Government by the School Education Department so that the infrastructure can be put to use particularly for the opening of Patwar Khanas, Anganwari Centres, Residential Homes, Haats of Industries and Commerce Department etc. The process to handover buildings to the concerned departments has already commenced.
Sources informed that these school buildings were constructed by utilizing the funds released by the Government of India under Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) despite having no requirement of the same at all.
“Politicians, who were at the helm of affairs during the successive regimes in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, got these schools sanctioned and buildings constructed mainly keeping in view their vote bank and without ascertaining the actual ground situation.”
Under the SSA scheme, which was aimed at universalization of elementary education in a time-bound manner by providing free and compulsory education to all children falling in the age group of six to 14 years, there was a provision for the opening of new Primary Schools besides up-gradation of schools to Upper Primary level. Similarly, under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), which was aimed at enhancing access to secondary education and improving its quality, there was a provision to provide a Secondary School within a reasonable distance to increase the enrolment rate of students.
The sources alleged that the provisions of these schemes were also used by the politicians for the opening of schools even in those areas where there was no necessity and for this, they even managed fictitious figures about the number of out of school children.
“The politicians got a large number of youth engaged under Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) scheme for such schools only keeping in mind their vote bank,” they added.
They disclosed that successive dispensations opened new schools in a haphazard manner which resulted in dwindling of the enrolment in schools year after year. “The basic reason for the downfall in the enrolment was the schools were not established as per the requirement and no set norms were followed as well”, sources added.
In the 2015, the then Government had initiated steps towards the merger of schools with less enrolment to spare the infrastructure for optimum utilization elsewhere and to help the School Education Department in balancing the Pupil-Teacher-Ratio in the schools and provide adequate staff to the institutions to some extent. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
