Bihar to count children of babus studying in government schools

PATNA:  The education department in Bihar, at the instance of the Patna High Court, has started collecting data on the number of wards of state-cadre officers of IAS, IPS and other class-I and II services enrolled in the state-run government schools. The purpose of the exercise is apparently to ensure that the official machinery takes steps to improve the condition of government schools in the state.

A single-judge bench of the high court headed by Justice Anil Upadhyaya had recently sought details on the number of officers who have enrolled their children in government schools. Sanjay Kumar, additional chief secretary, education department, has written to district magistrates and the superintendents of police of all 38 districts of Bihar to provide relevant details. The officers have to respond before August 4.

Chief Secretary Tripurari Sharan is likely to review the details of the database before it is submitted to the court. Kumar has also issued guidelines to all district education officers (DEOs) to help in preparing the data. Justice Upadhyaya, while hearing a petition on the removal of guest teachers, had remarked that unless top officers’ children study in government schools, there will be no visible improvement in the state education system.

The state has 209 IAS officers and 219 IPS officers, besides thousands of class-I and II officers.  According to official figures, Bihar has 72,663 government schools, including 42,573 primary, 25,587 upper primary, 2,286 secondary and 2,217 senior secondary schools.