ROURKELA: At a time when Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) is insisting on successful implementation of different programmes, nearly 2,400 primary and upper primary (UP) schools under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) across the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district have not received School Improvement Grant (SIG) and Repair and Maintenance Fund for eight months in a row.
On August 17, the OPEPA had issued a letter to all schools directing proper implementation of grants, mandatory filing of utilisation certificates (UC) and maintaining of separate cashbooks, but to little avail.
School sources said as per guidelines, the SIG grant is utilised to buy education materials including chalks, dusters, display boards, registers, text books, pencils, books for library, minor equipment for science laboratory, sports materials, sanitary items, observances of national programmes and even payment of electricity bills. The Repair and Maintenance Fund is utilised for minor repair of school buildings.
Some headmasters pointed out that in the absence of SIG, majority of the schools have stopped procuring sanitary items like phenyl, bleaching powder and brooms. As a result, stinking and dirty looking toilets present unhygienic atmosphere in the schools. Similarly, putting a check on education materials and observing the national functions just for namesake are other methods to avoid fund scarcity. Previously, children used to anxiously wait for chocolates and biscuits during these functions, but now they return empty handed. Yet, they said a section of school headmasters are meeting the SIG expenditures from their own resources with hope of getting reimbursement later. But, majority of school authorities avoid spending on repair and maintenance from their own pockets.
Under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), the district has 2,237 elementary schools from Classes I to VIII in rural pockets and 163 such schools in four urban areas catering to above 2.2 lakh students.
Primary schools having Classes I to V are entitled to `5,000 towards SIG, while UP schools having Classes I to VIII get `12,000 annually. The Repair and Maintenance Grant is `10,000 per annum for each school.
District Project Coordinator (DPC) of SSA AK Pradhan said funds are being received in phases and released with priority towards procurement of uniforms and salary payment. Efforts are being taken to provide funds under the SIG and maintenance grant to schools, he added.