PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today denied any scam in the enrolment of students in schools in the state but conceded there was an discrepancy in the number of them enrolled and those attending classes.
Kumar, who was speaking in the assembly during a discussion on a short notice question by BJP MLA Achyutanand, said the problem has been caused due to scrapping of the school leaving certificate(SLC) for admission to another and blamed the erstwhile RJD government for the discrepancy in the enrolment of students in government schools.
The discrepancy came to the fore after the launch of the health guarantee scheme mandating issuance of health cards to all students upon furnishing of all details about them. It was then found that the same student was registered in different classes of the same school or even different schools at the same time, he said.
The discrepancy was a matter of concern, Kumar said adding his government had tried to improve enrolment rate in Bihar and attained 97 per cent enrolment rate by 2011 as against 88 per cent in 2005.
However, the state government was not content with and wanted to improve quality of education and had implemented schemes like providing them books, uniforms and bicycles and mid-day meals.
A collective effort was required to improve education scenario in Bihar, he said adding the state government has taken the report by NGO 'Pratham' on the annual status of education report seriously.
The report criticied the quality of education in Bihar, particularly at the primary education level and the government had now launched a campaign 'Samjhen Sikhen' (Understand before learning) under which attendance in schools has been made mandatory from the next fiscal to remove discrepancies in enrollment.
The government would also restore the requirement of the SLCs for admission in another school to remove chances of duplication of admission, he said.