Shankar Prasad Pandey, secretary at MoE, has formally asked all DEOs to stop issuing approval for registration of community-based primary schools. According to Upendra Mandal, DEO of Rautahat district, Secretary Pandey has categorically asked them not to allow anyone to register new community primary schools, at least for the time being.[break]
"Following the MoE instructions, I have been turning back empty-handed everyone who comes to my office seeking permission for opening new primary schools," DEO Mandal told Republica. "I have asked all of them to approach me only after a few months. Before they turn up again, I will visit all the places where they want to open schools to find out whether local people genuinely need more schools."
MoE Secretary Pandey has instructed all DEOs to carry out mapping for every locality proposed for opening new primary schools if the pressure for opening new schools is truly inescapable. Such mapping takes stock of existing primary schools and the number of students in a given locality. "In some Tarai districts, as many as four primary schools are found to have been set up within a single ward, apparently for guzzling funds provided under the PCF policy," Mandal said.
According to highly placed sources at MoE, government officials are even mulling a ban on registration of all new primary schools for some time. "As of now, this is just an instruction," sources told Republica. "MoE could even announce a ban, if mere instructions fail to yield any results. Discussions are going on whether to impose a blanket ban throughout the country or particularly in the Tarai region."
Only last month, the National Vigilance Center (NVC) uncovered three ´ghost schools´ that had long been guzzling educational funds provided under PCF in Parsa and Dhanusha districts. Speculating that there could be more ´ghost schools´ operating in the Tarai, NVC had instructed MoE to dig them up.
Schools that exist only in records submitted by District Education Offices (DEOs) to the Department of Education (DoE) are notorious as ´ghost schools´. Groups of unscrupulous people in various Tarai districts have been getting fake schools registered to siphon off funds distributed under PCF policy. As per this policy, all community schools receive funds for teacher salaries, textbooks and miscellaneous expenses in proportion to the number of students.
Dr Lekhnath Poudel, under-secretary at MoE, says tightening the process of registering community-based primary schools is needed not only because of the growing number of fake schools. "The number of primary schools has surged in the last few years because of various factors," Dr Poudel said, adding, "Some influential people use their political clout and open new schools to maintain their influence among village folks. Some others open new schools to provide jobs to near and dear ones."
Dr Poudel says the need for new primary schools is no longer relevant. "If you go by national statistics, there are already more than enough schools," he said. "In recent years, primary schools are being opened only out of the vested interests of some influential persons in the villages."
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