CHENNAI: For students living in remote areas of Tamil Nadu, who receive monthly aid for transport and escort facility to reach schools located in far-flung areas on time, a recent government order to transfer the aid to their bank accounts through direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme has surprisingly come as a big hurdle. Hitherto, the funds were being transferred to the bank accounts of school headmasters.
The headmasters of schools in remote areas and School Management Committee (SMC) members across the State have opposed the move to transfer funds to the joint bank accounts of students and parents under DBT scheme.
“Most of the parents are daily-wage labourers and they will have to leave their work to travel to banks to withdraw money. In case if they don’t withdraw the money on time, even after reminding them, the department may question the teachers,” P Dinakaran, president, Tamil Nadu Primary School Teachers’ Federation in Nilgiris, told TNIE.
‘Rs 5 crore in June-Sept for transport facility’
S ourcrces say the school education department has released nearly Rs 5 crore for the June-September period for being used for private transport and escort facilities under the Samagara Siksha Abhiyan programme. As per rules framed under the Right to Education Act, children studying in Classes 1-5 must be able to access schools within a distance of one km from their homes.
For children in Classes 5-8, schools must be located within three km. To help students in remote areas, where schools are located beyond this distance limit, Rs 500 to Rs 600 is offered to each student every month under the scheme. About Rs 13.81 crore is being spent on 23,280 students from Classes 1 to 8 under the scheme in 30 districts in TN every year. Nearly Rs 1.3 crore is spent on 2,326 students of Classes 9 to 12 in 14 districts.
A letter sent by the Tamil Nadu Primary School Teachers’ Federation to the education department states that more than 6,500 students in 190 schools have been availing of the benefit in Nilgiris the district with the most number of beneficiaries under the scheme. For the June to September period, headmasters and teachers have pooled in money to ensure that payment is made to private transport service providers to ensure uninterrupted service so that children continue to come to school.
“My child is studying in Thumboor panchayat union primary school. Our village is located around five km from the school and children of our village use the funds provided under transport and escort services to reach schools. Most of the parents, including me, are working as plantation workers and earn around Rs 300 per day. It will be difficult for us to dedicate a day to go to banks to withdraw the money. It will affect our work,” said R Sathyavani, chairman of the school management committee of the Thumboor panchayat union primary school in the Nilgiris district. Vehicle operators staged a protest last Monday over delay in getting their payments and students couldn’t go to school that day, she said.
Headmasters and SMC members are now urging the department to transfer the amount to an account number which can be accessed by school management committee members including parents and HMs. Since SMCs are functioning properly, they can monitor the amount spent for arranging transport facilities, and the department must stick to the existing practice, said another teacher from Erode. Meanwhile, school education department officials cite potential misuse and mismanagement of funds as reasons for the decision to adopt DBT system.
“Schemes should be implemented democratically. While there are challenges and it may take time for the scheme to run smoothly, this is a progressive step to instil a sense of responsibility in parents. Assistance will be provided through collectors for opening bank accounts,” said a top education official. Sources said the department might consider depositing the amount in SMCs’ account, considering the strong opposition to the government’s plan.
Rs 15 cr spent each year
Tamil Nadu school education department has released Rs 5 crore for the June-September period for being used for private transport and escort facilities for students under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.