The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Children yet to get free books, bags

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 01, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Children yet to get free books, bags

Bageshree S.

Education Department’s scheme yet to be implemented in Bangalore Rural district

Rs. 45.52 lakh was allocated to the district for the project
Deadline for disbursing the bags and books was July 31

Bangalore: There is many a slip between the cup and the lip, more so when it comes to implementation of well-meaning government programmes.

Consider, for example, what has happened to the Education Department’s programme of providing free notebooks and schoolbags to children of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the State. The order on the programme, issued in May, 2007, is yet to be implemented in Bangalore Rural district eight months into the academic year and four months beyond the deadline set for implementing the scheme.

Documents related to the social welfare programme show that the first order on providing free bags to SC/ST students in 5th and 7th standards and free notebooks to children from 5th to 8th standards was passed on May 2, 2007. The order by the Department of Public Instruction not only set deadlines for buying of material, disbursement and payment of dues, but also gave elaborate instructions on the quality standards to be met on books and schoolbags. Another order dated May 9 states that an allocation of Rs. 45.52 lakh is made to Bangalore Rural district for implementing the project in a time-bound manner.

Both the orders state that the project should be implemented at the level of districts with an aim to decentralise administrative procedures. The Chief Executive Officers of zilla panchayats were named to head the purchase panels in each district.

But a meeting held on July 23 under the chairmanship of Bangalore Rural CEO K.S. Satyamurthy passed a resolution saying that purchase of material should be done at the Government level rather than at the zilla panchayat level. The recorded proceedings of the meeting cite a strange reason for this decision: “If purchases are done at the district level, people and people’s representatives will accuse the panchayat of making poor quality purchases.”

The Department of Public Instruction, however, rejected this reasoning in a letter dated June 29 saying that it was “indefensible” and based on a “misconception.”

The first step towards implementing the scheme in the district was taken only on August 18 in a meeting chaired by Mr. Satyamurthy. In the letter written to Department of Public Instruction, the CEO states that a decision has been taken to call tenders for purchase of bags and appoint two nodal officers to ensure quality. It is interesting to note that the deadline set for disbursing the bags and books was July 31 and for settlement of dues on purchase August 15.

H.P. Cheluvaraju, president of the health and education sub-committee in Bangalore Rural Zilla Panchayat, asks how the purchase panel could have come up with the “lame excuse” on the possibility of zilla panchayat facing allegations of quality even before making the purchase.

“The callous attitude of officials has resulted in poor, Dalit children in the district being denied their educational rights. Action should be initiated against officials responsible for it,” says N. Narasappa, zilla panchayat member from Doddabelavangala constituency.

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