Dubious data leading to wastage of funds

SCHOOL EDUCATION

Rigorous drive undertaken to verify enrolment in schools

BY Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Nov 6: To check dubious and fake enrolment of schools which has resulted in abnormal indicators and more importantly wastage of funds, the Central government has undertaken a rigorous verification exercise.

The exercise is being done in two phases. In the first phase, data is being collected from every school - both private and government. In the second phase, the date will be verified and the duplicate and fake mes will be deleted from the masterlist.

As part of the exercise, the district administrations have written to all the private schools to upload the details of enrolled students up to Class VIII along with photographs, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan sources said.

The Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) was introduced in 2012-13. It is an integrated version of the former elementary-level DISE and the secondary-level SEMIS. States are required to use U-DISE data for their Annual Work Plan and Budgets (AWP&Bs) and periodic reporting. The Central government also uses U-DISE data to verify and appraise the state plans under SSA and RMSA. U-DISE is operated by SSA & RMSA staff at the state and sub-state level.

To overcome the difficulties arising out of multiple sources of data on education - student enrolment, availability of teachers with details, building status, classrooms, toilet & drinking water facilities, midday meal, availability of ramps, play ground, kitchen shed, boundary wall, library etc, the Unified DISE (District Information System for Education) data are being collected from all categories of schools imparting formal education up to class-XII including Central government and private institutions in collaboration with Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan Mission (RMSA), Assam.

There were allegations from certain quarters that the SSA was seeking information on enrolment from private schools to show the students in their registers in order to raise bills.

Sources in the SSA said while alyzing the enrolment of the districts, it was found that the Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) is more than 100 per cent which clearly indicates reporting of dubious, fake and inflated enrolment in some schools. "The excess enrolment results abnormal indicators, due to which the actual progress is never reflected. The indicators like Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR), Students Classroom Ratio (SCR), Drop-out Rate are always affected. The most important concern is the wastage of government investment and mis-utilization of resources and thereby directly affecting areas like - free text book, uniform, allotment of additiol class room, etc," the sources said.

To make the data error-free and digitize it, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has directed rigorous verification of the enrolment figure of the schools which will later be compared with the children population of nearby habitations.

"The entire effort is a drive to attempt to make the elementary schooling system more effective, keeping a full proof record/actual record of students enrolled in the State," the SSA said.