Buddha’s Bengal gets red on primary education report card

After the mess in the wake of the flip-flop on English, West Bengal’s primary education system is facing another blot. Data compiled by...

After the mess in the wake of the flip-flop on English, West Bengal’s primary education system is facing another blot. Data compiled by the Human Resource Development Ministry categorises the state along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as among the worst performers in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme.

While the UP and Bihar figures are not surprising, West Bengal is a new entrant in the troubled state category. As per the data, of the estimated 2.38 crore children not attending school in the country, one crore come from the three states.

In the year 2002-03, West Bengal’s outlay for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was over Rs 390 crore. The final amount released by the Centre was around Rs 180 crore. The spending pattern shows West Bengal simply could not keep pace with some of the other states which took off and moved into top gear as soon as the statewise budgetary grants for SSA were decided.

Story continues below this ad

Similarly, Bihar was to spend over Rs 370 crore and ended up spending only around Rs 140 crore.

Uttar Pradesh, despite the political turmoil it went through both in the last fiscal and current financial year, tried hard. But it had made the mistake of opting for a huge outlay of Rs 810 crore and fell far short of the target, being able to spend only Rs 440 crore. The drop-out rate in all the three states is very high and the SSA cannot really succeed without these three states showing remarkable improvement.

West Bengal’s decline is a case in point. The state is believed to have paid little attention to primary education for five consecutive years between 1995 and 2000 and though the new chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, is doing his best to mend matters, the damage done will take a few more years to repair. Right now the state has 32 lakh children out of school between the age groups of five and 13.

Asked about the sorry state of affairs, West Bengal’s new Principal Secretary, School Education, said: ‘‘I have no facts and figure to support your version.’’ Primary School Education Minister Kanti Biswas was not available for comment.

Story continues below this ad

Not that the other states have done exceedingly well. Andhra Pradesh has not spent half of its Rs 490 crore outlay. Haryana has also done badly, spending only about one third of its total outlay. And it may surprise many that Kerala too spent very little of the initial Central allocation. But the HRD Ministry explains that Andhra attempted too much, trying almost to enrol every child in the state at one go.

The problem in Kerala—a state that has been leading all education indices—is not enrolment. It is its high drop-out rate after the age of 12. The state has to track down these drop-outs, and this is a time-consuming exercise. Similarly, in Haryana, farmers have been trying to avoid government-run SSA schools. Except for those living in extremely backward districts like Nuh, most can afford to send their children to privately-run primary schools mushrooming in the countryside.

There are two other states, Maharashtra and Orissa, which have sent back money. The HRD Ministry says it would not make any judgements at this stage unless they receive a proper explanation from both. Orissa has spent only Rs 100 crore of its allocated Rs 250 crore, while Maharashtra could use just Rs 200 crore of its Rs 500 crore outlay.