Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday denied any scam in the enrolment of students in schools in the state but conceded there was an discrepancy in the number of them enrolled and those attending classes.
Kumar, who was speaking in the assembly during a
discussion on a short notice question by BJP MLA Achyutanand,
said the problem has been caused due to scrapping of the
school leaving certificate(SLC) for admission to another and
blamed the erstwhile RJD government for the discrepancy in the
enrolment of students in government schools.
The discrepancy came to the fore after the launch of the
health guarantee scheme mandating issuance of health cards to
all students upon furnishing of all details about them. It was
then found that the same student was registered in different
classes of the same school or even different schools at the
same time, he said.
The discrepancy was a matter of concern, Kumar said
adding his government had tried to improve enrolment rate in
Bihar and attained 97 per cent enrolment rate by 2011 as
against 88 per cent in 2005.
However, the state government was not content with and
wanted to improve quality of education and had implemented
schemes like providing them books, uniforms and bicycles and
mid-day meals.
A collective effort was required to improve education
scenario in Bihar, he said adding the state government has
taken the report by NGO `Pratham` on the annual status of
education report seriously.
The report criticied the quality of education in
Bihar, particularly at the primary education level and the
government had now launched a campaign `Samjhen Sikhen`
(Understand before learning) under which attendance in
schools has been made mandatory from the next fiscal to remove
discrepancies in enrollment.
The government would also restore the requirement
of the SLCs for admission in another school to remove chances
of duplication of admission, he said.
PTI
