NEW DELHI: Forty per cent of children in the 6-14 age group remained out of school even after four years of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and despite a whopping expenditure of Rs. 11133.57 crore.

A performance audit of the SSA by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India for the year ending March 2005 has concluded that the programme could "achieve only partially the targets set."

The scheme was launched to enrol all out-of-school children in schools and start education guarantee centres, alternate schools and back-to-school camps by 2003. However, it was extended to March 2005. Still, 40 per cent (1.36 crore) children remained out of school.

The CAG also found that funds were irregularly diverted to activities/schemes, which were beyond the SSA's scope. In the districts test done in Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, it was found that Rs. 99.88 crore was spent on items not permitted under the SSA.

The CAG also found financial irregularities to the tune of Rs. 472.51 crore across 14 States and Union Territories.

Another front on which the CAG found the SSA falling short pertains to supply of free textbooks. As many as 7.46 lakh children were not supplied textbooks and the complaint came primarily from Jharkhand, Karnataka, Mizoram, West Bengal, Bihar and Nagaland.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail