Assam Spends More Than Private Schools For The Annual Enrollment of Students In The State-Run Schools

GUWAHATI: At a time when the government schools are facing flak for poor academic performance, Dispur is spending more than Rs 80,000 annually for each student enrolled in the State-run schools — a sum more than most of the private schools in the State spend.

The revelation has come after a Gauhati High Court lawyer, Jayabrata Sinha, filed RTI applications in several prominent government schools in the city, requesting information on their total number of students and the amount the government spends against the salary of their employees.

Official information received by advocate Sinha has revealed that the State government annually spends Rs 3.22 crore against 37 teaching and nine non-teaching staff of Sonaram Higher Secondary School in the city. The school has 386 students from Classes VI to XII and the government spends Rs 83,568 per year against each student.

Cotton Collegiate Government Higher Secondary School, once the most sought after institution for students of the State, has been performing poorly in the HSLC exams for the last several years. The school has now 572 students from Classes VI to XII. The government spends Rs 3.82 crore a year on the salary of the school’s 47 teaching and nine non-teaching staff. This implies that it spends Rs 66,875 a year on a student.

The average government expenditure against each student in Arya Vidyapeeth HS School is Rs 63,180 and Rs 42,495 in Gopal Boro Government HS School and Rs 44,323 for Panbazar Girls’ Higher Secondary School.

The revelations that came through the RTI applications filed by advocate Sinha has shocked the concerned circle raising questions on the rationale behind spending such huge amount of money on government schools.

Pankaj Das, president of the All Assam Private Schools Association, said barring five private schools, the average expenditure of a Class-X student in other private (non-residential) schools in the city is much less than Rs 80,000 a year.

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