'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan' : A Burden Of Another Billion Dollars!!
By Pardeep
22 July,
2008
Countercurrents.org
The 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan' (The "Education for All" movement sometimes referred to as "each one, teach one"). Aim of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was to provide useful & efficient elementary education to all children in the age group of 6 to 10 by 2010. There was another goal to bridge the social, regional & gender gaps with the active participation of all the communities in the management of schools. But are all the governments working for all these? Are all the children getting chance for betterment or this scheme also have just proved like other Government schemes those never reaches to common people?
Receiving green signal form World Bank for the next installment of 600 million USD, Indian political leaders might have started celebrating!! Why don't they celebrate? They have reason to celebrate, this Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan movement has made many millionaires & if not this 600 million USD will make them!! This "Education for All Children" movement has proved "Money for All Politicians" nothing else. A survey conducted by "OUTLOOK" (April 7th, 2008) showed that 71% villagers said there is high corruption in all the Government schemes & don't reach at them. India's external debt is already at 201.4 billion USD, but where the development is seen, in the houses of ministers? Isn't it? This money is proving burden on the common man as it is to be recovered from them by various taxes!!
There are about 45% Dalits who don't know how to read or write, literacy rate for Dalit women is just 37.8%. According to another survey by the Friends for Education, almost 52 % Muslims live below the poverty line (compared to 25 % of all Indians). Of every 100 Muslim girls admitted in schools at the primary level, only four pass out at high school while only 1 makes it to a college. The literacy level is a shocking 28% and graduates and postgraduates form less than 1 % of the total. In the field of medicine, the percentage is just 2.4 while in the judiciary; it doesn't go beyond 3.1 %. The community occupies the lowest rung in the development index. Its literacy rate is poor and it has a low presence in private and public sector jobs. ("Keeping the Muslim Down" by Firoz Bakhtt Ahmed, May 19th 2008, HT)
A Citizen's Review Report (7th Jan, 2008) on "India's Progress on the MDGs" showed 55% of Muslims have never attended school compared to national average of 41% (rural); In Bihar 86% of enrolled children drop-out by Standard VI. 99% Dalit children study in Public schools & inadequate facilities and infrastructure as major problem for access to health & education.
There is another report by Comptroller & Audit General (CAG) showing that SC, ST's literacy rate is very much poor in Tamil Nadu. For ST male literacy rate is 32.18% & for female it stands at 31.77%. Also the pass percentage of SC, ST students in 10th & 12th standard examinations has dropped from 2002-03 onwards and was much lower than the overall pass percentage during 2002-06 and needs immediate attention in the educational development of the SC, STs. This all is result of poor monitoring & poor implementation of the welfare schemes launched for SC, STs & delaying the scholarships for SC, STs.
The total budget for SSA stands at Rs.131 billion and the scheme's operation has come under severe flak from India's official auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). Out of Rs 8004.71-cr allotted for the development work of "Elementary Education" and 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rs 2,324.99 crore was spent through record. Rest amount of money as spent for the development work for which no records are available & HRD is clueless about rest of money!! Means rest of money was simply siphoned off & Gujarat comes first in misusing the funds!! From the funds of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan party functions were organized & some spend that money on "Puja" in temples!!
Almost
all the state governments are ready to wash their hands by giving
different names like "Hard to Reach", "Most Difficult
to Access Group" for the children those are not attending schools
right now but no government is ready to take responsibility that their
welfare schemes are nothing but fraud!! There is money, money &
money everywhere but before spending Governments must make the schemes
efficient so as social, economical, educational status can be raised.
40% of the money borrowed from World Bank directly or indirectly goes
back to them as fees of consultancy, i.e. Indian Governments are not
able to chalk out the proper plans. Almost all the Government schemes
have proved fake tigers only!! There is an urgent need to support
social reformation of SC/ST, Muslim communities to promote literacy
otherwise..... ??
