BHOPAL: An audit of implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act has brought to the fore the sorry state of universal elementary education in Madhya Pradesh. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) audit between March-August 2016 that covered the period right from the inception of the RTE Act in 2010 till 2016, revealed that the Act’s objective of providing universal elementary education couldn’t be achieved even after six years.
The net enrolment ratio (NER) for primary education as on March 2016 was lower than the national average.
There was a decline in NER at the Class I to Class V level from 93.66 per cent in 2013-14 to 78.93 per cent in 2015-16. However, MP achieved marginal growth in NER from Class VI to Class VIII.
Also, during 2010-16, as many as 10.25 lakh children dropped out of school after Class V, while 4.09 lakh children left school after Class VII. Thus, universal retention of children for elementary education couldn’t be achieved, says the CAG report.
The quality of education was as dismal. In Class V, 17 per cent students could recognize Hindi alphabets only and had problem in reading and writing words. Just 25 per cent could read and write Hindi. Just 23 per cent students could recognize numbers from 1 to 9 and 13 per cent were unable to recognize even that. Only 24 per cent students could read and write English words.
In Class VIII, just 10 per cent students could recognize Hindi alphabets while 49 per cent could read and write Hindi stories.
In Mathematics, 16 per cent could recognize numbers 1 to 9 only, while 21 per cent couldn’t do measurements. Further, only 28 per cent were able to read and write simple English sentences.
The CAG report revealed that in violation of RTE Act norms there were 18,213 single teacher schools and from 2010 to 2016, out of the `19,171 crore earmarked for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, `1,265 crore was unutilized.
Basic facilities were not available in several schools of the State. The Beneficiary Survey of 1,274 students conducted during the performance audit in 283 schools revealed that 43 per cent students didn’t use library facility, 22 per cent were not satisfied with the playground, 7 per cent reported lack of drinking water facilities and 15 per cent students didn’t find school toilet usable.