In a clear violation of the Right to Education Act, 2009, which mandates free uniforms, textbooks and writing material to children studying in government, aided and unaided primary schools (for 25% reserved seats), the state government has never made any budgetary provisions for writing material, thus depriving 65 lakh children covered under the Act of notebooks.
In a clear violation of the Right to Education Act, 2009, which mandates free uniforms, textbooks and writing material to children studying in government, aided and unaided primary schools (for 25% reserved seats), the state government has never made any budgetary provisions for writing material, thus depriving 65 lakh children covered under the Act of notebooks.
The startling revelation has come to the fore in the latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which was released in April.
Pulling up the state government for delaying implementation of the Act by two years and then doing it halfheartedly, the CAG report states, "The government did not make provision for writing material for primary schools for 2012-13 and 2013-14. Consequently, 66.04 lakh and 63.34 lakh children enrolled in government schools in 2012-13 and 2013-14, respectively, were deprived of it."
"No budget is provided for writing material in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)," was the reply given by the school education department to the auditors.
The CAG, however, refused to accept the state's justification. "The reply is not acceptable as the SSA framework for implementation clearly states that all entitlements, as notified in the state RTE rules, should be provided for..."
CAG has also thrown the RTE rule book at the government; rules state writing material would also be provided by schools. "Rule 5 of the RTE Rules stipulated supply of free textbooks, writing material, and uniforms to children attending government, aided and unaided schools (only for reserved seats) in order to remove the financial barriers to school access so as to retain them in schools. Further, explanation under Rule 5 stipulated that the responsibility of providing free entitlements to children admitted in aided and unaided schools would be that of the schools."
No such provision is made even for the upcoming academic year, which will start from June, a top official from the school education department confirmed. He cited skewed funds coming from the Centre for improper implementation of RTE Act.
"The allocation for 2013-14 was Rs2,400 crore which has now reduced to Rs1,600 crore," claimed another official. The Centre and state share the fund burden in 65:35 ratio.
CAG exposes state
No uniforms, textbooks for RTE quota kids
As per the SSA framework, two sets of school uniforms for all girls and boys belonging to SC, ST or BPL families in government schools are to be provided. Audit in four selected districts showed all 26 test-checked unaided schools did not provide free textbooks and uniforms to 486 children admitted under the 25% quota during 2013-14. CAG also said books were given much after the commencement of the academic session, with the delays ranging between one and six months.
No higher class schools around 36,000 primary ones
Over 36,794 schools (up to Std IV) and 5,621 schools (up to Std VII) did not have neighbourhood schools for Stds V and VIII even within six kilometres (rule says they must be within in 5km).
No transportation facility for faraway schools
Free transportation facilities, as mandated by the Act, were also not provided to 24.87 lakh children studying in 42,415 schools.
51,000 Maha schools lacked functional toilets as Rs127 crore remained unspent
No reimbursement for 9,000 unaided schools for 2 years
While the schools admitted kids from 2012-13, the state notified the rates for reimbursement of expenditure only in July 2014, thus delaying reimbursement to over 9,000 schools in respect of 1.26 lakh students who were granted admission in these schools under the quota.
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