KL Report
SRINAGAR
While nearly 50 per cent primary/ upper primary schools of central Kashmir’s Budgam district lack basic facilities, only 34 per cent primary schools have toilet facilities.
“Out of 1146 primary/ upper primary schools, 579 schools were accommodated in rented buildings which were lacking basic facilities…. Out of 712 primary schools, 241 schools were having toilet facility (34 per cent)….electricity was available in 58 schools (eight per cent),” states the latest Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report.
The findings of the report were presented here today by Principal Accountant General (Audit) Dr. Subhash Chandra Pandey during a press conference.
The report has pulled up the authorities for failing to properly implement the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) scheme in Budgam. “Implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been carried out without preparation of perspective plans to assess existing status of education scenario in the district and accordingly formulate the long term planning for improvement of schools,” the report said.
While the number of schools (primary and upper primary) in the district had increased from 906 to 1142 during the period 2007-08 to 2011-12, the enrollment of students (primary and upper primary) decreased from 1,11,326 during 2007-08 to 72,919 during 2011-12.
“One of the primary objectives of SSA was to achieve zero figure for out of school children and complete retention of students by the year 2010. It was seen that at the district level there were 872 students which had never been enrolled as of March 2012. Apart from this there were 1249 students which had left the schools halfway and were drop outs as of March 2012,” the CAG report adds.
Stating that the condition of many schools was also poor as 207 buildings were partially pucca or fullykuccha, the report said only 92 out of 232 primary school buildings, 28 out of 54 upper primary school buildings and 140 out of 414 additional class rooms had been completed despite availability of funds ‘indicating non-serious approach’ on the part of the concerned authorities.
