The Hindu : Steps to check irregularities in Ashram schools

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 22, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Steps to check irregularities in Ashram schools

By Our Staff Reporter

KHAMMAM, JAN. 21. The Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) has initiated measures for recovery of mess funds allegedly misappropriated in Ashram schools and residential hostels in the sub plan area of Khammam district. A month-long exercise taken up by the project officer, Natarajan Guljar, to take stock of the conditions in the 180 institutions being run by the project came to a close and now efforts are being made in the direction of streamlining their functioning.

The Ashram schools and residential schools run by the ITDA had over 37,000 names on the rolls in the beginning of the academic year.

The project officer had entrusted the mandal education officers and other officials of the ITDA with the task of finding out the exact number of students studying in each institution. The physical verification taken up in institutions in the 29 mandals of the sub plan area exposed serious irregularities in the maintenance of some hostels.

Students who hailed from villages within 5 km of the location of the school were also admitted to the ashram school as boarders in violation of the GO 130 of the Tribal Welfare Department. Such children were eligible for enrolment as day scholars but not as boarders. In fact a majority of such students were neither staying in the institution after school hours nor taking food or breakfast in hostels. But some of the wardens continued to draw mess funds from the ITDA by showing false figures.

The Project Officer said the schoolwise list of local boarders was prepared. Students who were not eligible for mess facility were identified. To begin with, the mess facility was sought to be withdrawn for only 448 local boarders of the institutions located in the mandal centres. The local boarders of the institutions located in remote areas and the students appearing for the SSC examination in April next were however allowed to avail of the mess facility, considering the representation of parents from different villages.

The Project Officer said parents from Perur and Banguvai villages made a representation on the local boarders' issue and their request to allow mess facility to certain students was considered. He said false entries in the list of boarders were viewed seriously and steps are being taken to fix the responsibility.

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Andhra Pradesh