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J&K education in the pits inspite of generous funds at the disposal of the state
Even after having massive funds at its disposal the J&K state administration has failed to utilise them fully for SSA and RMSA. With these successful initiatives not finding its proper place the education in the state is lagging behind.
While the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) are creative waves of positive change across the country, they have been able to create just a feeble ripple in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The problem doesn’t lie with the programs but with successive regimes who have failed to utilise the funds allocated by the Center under the programs.
Official statistics show that the state had access to ₹9,000 crore under the SSA in the past 6 years, but it could utilise only ₹5,500 crore, while an amount of ₹3,500 crore remained unutilised.
Similarly, the state spent only a mere 30% of the total access of Rs 1,750 crore under RMSA in the past 5 years. “An amount of Rs 540 crore was utilised for the period while an amount of Rs 1,210 crore remained unutilised,” the statistics revealed.
If you look closely at the objective of the SSA, you will realise that it is just what the doctor ordered for the state. The SSA aims to achieve Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) in a time-bound manner. It endeavors to open new schools in areas where schooling facilities are absent and strengthen the existing school infrastructure through provision of additional class rooms, toilets, drinking water, maintenance grant and school improvement grants. The RMSA was born in March 2009 with the explicit objective to enhance access to secondary education and to improve its quality.
“The state has invested a whopping ₹40,000 crore in the education sector in the past 10 years (from 2005 to 2015) but it failed to make an significant impact in the education scenario of the state as J&K had been ranked third from the bottom among all the states and Union Territories (UTs) in National Achievement Survey,” said Naeem Akhter, Minister for Education, said in a no holds barred discussion.
Former education minister Harsh Dev Singh, chairman of Panthers Party and who oversaw the launch of SSA in J&K, regretted that it clearly reflected the state of governance in the state. “The government should fix the responsibility and take action against those who had done great loss to the state. There are several instances where the SSA and RMSA funds were swindled by the people who had political patronage. We made several complaints but no action was initiated against them. The government should also look into these cases,” Harsh Dev Singh said.
According to Jammu-based activist Raman Sharma, it is the sheer negligence of the political class that the state hasn’t been able to use the funds allocated to it. The way out is for the government to proactively do a situation analysis and fix it. Also, the state government should focus on building human capital with teacher enrichment programs as the Centre has so far focussed on developing physical infrastructure.
Mahesh Koul, a research scholar, says that it is clear lack of strategy that the government hasn’t been able to utilise funds. “The government should fix the accountability for any lapses on account of under-utilisation of funds, besides constitute local committees to keep a check on malpractices, if any, under the scheme,” he said.
Image courtesy – J&K Education Department website