Enrolment in government schools dropped, private schools mushroomed in Telangana: CAG

Hyderabad : The condition of primary education has turned worse in Telangana from 2014-2017 with both State and Central Government not releasing allocated funds for school education.

"There was a significant shortfall (50%) in release of funds by GoI and the State Government as compared to the budget approved by Project Approval Board (PAB) during 2014-17. Further, there were considerable delays in release of funds by Gol as well as the State Government to the Telangana Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Society (TSSA). This resulted in non-implementation of important interventions intended for the benefit of eligible students in the State," the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) revealed in its report presented before the Telangana Legislature on Thursday.

Of Rs. 1839.35 Crore approved by PAB in 2014-15, only Rs. 831.09 Crore were released. Similarly, of Rs. 1667.34 Crore approved in 2015-16, only Rs. 681.11 Crore were released. Likewise, only Rs. 1181.35 Crore out of Rs. 1853.72 crore were released in 2016-17, the CAG report said.

During the period of 2014-17, the number of Government (including Local Bodies and Aided) Primary Schools increased by only 0.42% whereas Private Primary Schools increased by 12.75%. Similarly, in case of Upper Primary Schools, the number of Government schools increased by only 2.89% whereas Private Upper Primary Schools registered a growth of 10.09% over the same period.

In Government Primary Schools, the enrolment declined by 1.12 lakh (7.65%) during 2014-17. On the other hand, in case of Private Primary Schools, enrolment increased by 0.61 lakh (3.67%) during the same period. The enrolment in Government Upper Primary Schools decreased by 0.20 lakh (2.13 per cent), whereas enrolment increased by 0.03 lakh (0.38%) in Private Upper Primary Schools.

There was high dropout rate of students during transition from Class 1 to VIII, particularly in respect of SC/ST boys and girls. This was stated to be due to socio-economic factors like engagement of children in seasonal works by their parents, non-participation of community, migration of families, non-availability of teachers, etc., Child tracking system was not in existence in the State and thereby continuity of education of the child could not be ensured. Failure to mainstream all the Out-of-School Children and provide them training resulted in deprival of education to at least 0.47 lath children by the end of March 2017.

Most of the Out-of-School Children belonged to Madarsas (religious schools). Very few children from Madarsas were mainstreamed as religious education was being imparted as per the choice of their parents. Under Inclusive Education to Children with Special Needs (CWSN) 35% of funds approved by PAB were only spent during 2014-17. Thus, the identified CWSN had been deprived of their right to pursue free and compulsory elementary education envisaged in the Right to Education Act.

The State had not implemented provisions of RTE Act and the State Rules with regard to 25% reservation for disadvantaged group children in private unaided schools. This led to non-achievement of objective of providing equal educational opportunities to children belonging to different socio-economic background.

The benefit of transport allowance for attending neighbourhood schools was denied to 44,412 eligible/identified children in the State during 2014-15 and 2016-17. This was due to non/ belated issue of Gazette notifications by State Government and consequent non-release of funds by GoI.

The schools were largely deficient with regard to provision of basic infrastructural facilities/amenities. Nearly 75% of the schools in the State had no basic infrastructural amenities, 45% did not have playground and 39% lacked boundary wall or fencing. This was despite lapse of seven years since implementation of the RTE Act.

State Advisory Council (SAC - to be chaired by Minister-in-charge of School Education) was not constituted by the Government. As a result, the implementation of the provisions of RTE Act could not be reviewed at the apex level. Consequently, corrective actions, if any, could not be suggested to the State Government for effective implementation of RTE Act in the State.

Lack of proficiency levels of children in respect of 3R's i.e. Reading, Writing and Simple arithmetic was as high as 38 % and 39% for Classes II and III respectively. The overall lack of proficiency levels of Classes II to VIII for the year 2016-17 was 31%. Fourteen to 26% children at Primary level and 21-47% in Upper Primary level scored less than 40% during the years 2014-17. Further, children who scored between 91-100% ranged from 5-10% for Primary level. It was 2-6% for Upper Primary level. This reflected poor competitive levels of children in academics in Government (including Local body and Aided) schools, the CAG report said.

Against 29,549 Government and Aided schools (Primary. Upper Primary and High Schools) targeted in the State, 8585 schools had completed the 'Self Evaluation' (by schools themselves) and uploaded the data under Shaala Siddhi (Evaluation for Improvement). The remaining 20,964 schools were not Self Evaluated. External Evaluation was also not conducted. Thus, the Department failed in its visualised goal of Self Improvement.

The CAG concluded that the majority of the provisions of the RTE Act were not fully followed by the Stale Government. Very few children from Madarsas were mainstreamed as religious education was being imparted as per the choice of their parents. The time frame of three years for completion of various infrastructural facilities such as school buildings, toilets and drinking water facilities had not been adhered to. The prescribed minimum proficiency levels of children for 3Rs, i.e., reading, writing and simple arithmetic were not achieved. The implementation of RTE Act overall suffered in the State even after the lapse of seven years of its coming into effect.