look news india
A shocking report has come out regarding the functioning of the Indian education system and government administrative system, which has shocked the policy makers and common citizens across the country. A recent report based on the Ministry of Education and government data has revealed that 4,133 schools are running in different states across the country where not a single student is enrolled, that is, the enrollment of students there is zero. Despite this, on paper, more than 19,000 teachers and administrative staff have been deployed in these locked or abandoned schools and they are also being paid salaries regularly from the government treasury. This misuse of taxpayers’ hard-earned money and the gross negligence of the government machinery raises the question as to how and why resources are being wasted on such a large scale. Since this sensational report came out, there has been an uproar in the education world and political circles, and people are demanding administrative accountability.
Bitter truth and administrative negligence of schools with zero enrollment
In remote rural areas and many urban areas of the country, a long list of such government schools has emerged where the pretense of education continues despite zero enrollment of students. Whenever the quality of education in the country and the proper utilization of the budget is reviewed, these pictures from the ground level reveal the truth. On one hand, in many areas of the country, there is a shortage of proper benches and classrooms for children to sit, while on the other hand, there are thousands of such institutions where teachers are spending their working days without teaching even a single student. This situation has persisted for years due to the indifference and lack of monitoring of the education department officials at the local level. In these schools, neither anything is written on the blackboard nor children’s laughter is heard in the grounds, yet teachers’ presence is recorded in the attendance registers.
Payment of salaries from government treasury and wastage of resources
Government salaries worth crores of rupees are being spent every month on more than 19,000 teachers posted in these 4,133 schools with zero students. In a developing country like India, where lack of funds is always a hindrance in strengthening the education infrastructure, the flow of tax money like this is extremely worrying. If these additional and surplus teachers are transferred to those schools where hundreds of children are studying under one teacher, then the picture of education can improve to a great extent. But due to weak administrative will and lack of coordination between departments, this discrepancy continues to persist. Unnecessary budget is being wasted on the maintenance, mid-day meal and other administrative expenses of these schools which are running without students, for which it has now become very important to fix the responsibility.
There is a deep contradiction with the schools having severe shortage of teachers.
The biggest and worrying aspect of this entire report is that on one hand, thousands of teachers are sitting vacant in schools without students, on the other hand, there is such a huge shortage of teachers in thousands of government schools of the country that a single teacher is forced to teach all five classes simultaneously. Due to lack of teachers in many primary schools in tribal and rural areas, education has come to a standstill and the future of children is hanging in the balance. Governments constantly claim that they are making every possible effort to raise the level of education, but the ground reality is that this discrepancy is arising due to lack of proper and equitable distribution of resources (Rationalization of Teachers). Unless proper adjustment of surplus teachers is made, this disease of the education system cannot be cured.
Future challenges and dire need for policy reforms
Education experts and thinkers believe that after this report comes out, the central and state governments should now come together and make a concrete policy. First of all, an independent inquiry should be conducted into the physical and actual condition of all those schools where the number of students is zero or negligible. Those schools where there is no possibility of children coming, they should either be closed or merged with other nearby schools. Along with this, the teachers posted there should be immediately sent to those schools where there is a dire need of teachers. Without such drastic and transparent administrative reforms, it will be impossible to bring the country’s government education system back on track, and it is the need of the hour that the government takes immediate strict steps in this direction.