09-18-2006, 02:26 AM
<!--emo&:angry:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /><!--endemo--> 'Ghost' students cost Maha Rs 725 crore
Hemali Chhapia
[ 18 Sep, 2006 0017hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
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MUMBAI: Ever wondered where the 2% education cess you pay goes? In Maharashtra, a large chunk of it goes into educating 'ghost' children, who exist only in the records of the education department office.
Following a check conducted by education inspectors, it has been found that almost 12 lakh children listed in the records are missing from the classroom. Some of them don't exist at all and others have already passed out.
But the state government, having failed to update its records, has wasted over Rs 725 crore in 2005-06 alone on apparently educating these 'ghost children'. No one's sure how deep-rooted this scam of bogus student enrolment is.
Minister for elementary and secondary education Vasant Purke acknowledged that his officials have been aware of this malpractice for years together, but they, too, were shocked at the extent of the children missing and the money that's been swindled in one year alone.
The state education department requires every district to send their final enrolment figures for the academic year on September 30.
Funds for textbooks, uniforms and mid-day meals are allocated on the basis of these enrolment numbers. Even teachers and staff postings and number of divisions in each class are based on the enrolment figures.
But in December 2005, when the state conducted baseline test and education inspectors visited thousands of government schools across the state, they detected a huge gap between the enrolment figures sent by the schools and the actual number of students.
"Schools had sent names of some people who had died, some others were married and had children themselves," said an inspector.
For instance, in Pune, the official figures from the district in September 2005 indicated that there were 5,05,575 children enrolled. But checks carried out by inspectors in December 2005 showed that the actual number was 3,11,840.
Hemali Chhapia
[ 18 Sep, 2006 0017hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
MUMBAI: Ever wondered where the 2% education cess you pay goes? In Maharashtra, a large chunk of it goes into educating 'ghost' children, who exist only in the records of the education department office.
Following a check conducted by education inspectors, it has been found that almost 12 lakh children listed in the records are missing from the classroom. Some of them don't exist at all and others have already passed out.
But the state government, having failed to update its records, has wasted over Rs 725 crore in 2005-06 alone on apparently educating these 'ghost children'. No one's sure how deep-rooted this scam of bogus student enrolment is.
Minister for elementary and secondary education Vasant Purke acknowledged that his officials have been aware of this malpractice for years together, but they, too, were shocked at the extent of the children missing and the money that's been swindled in one year alone.
The state education department requires every district to send their final enrolment figures for the academic year on September 30.
Funds for textbooks, uniforms and mid-day meals are allocated on the basis of these enrolment numbers. Even teachers and staff postings and number of divisions in each class are based on the enrolment figures.
But in December 2005, when the state conducted baseline test and education inspectors visited thousands of government schools across the state, they detected a huge gap between the enrolment figures sent by the schools and the actual number of students.
"Schools had sent names of some people who had died, some others were married and had children themselves," said an inspector.
For instance, in Pune, the official figures from the district in September 2005 indicated that there were 5,05,575 children enrolled. But checks carried out by inspectors in December 2005 showed that the actual number was 3,11,840.