School infrastructure suffers due to short release of funds
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, July 06 2015 : Creation of infrastructure for schools in Manipur suffered due to short release of funds.

The infrastructure of the schools includes construction of classrooms, rooms for science laboratory, computer, library, art and crafts and toilets.

Moreover, science laboratories, libraries, art and craft centres were not made functional as laboratory assistants, librarians and art and craft instructors had not been appointed.

Revealing the state of education in Manipur, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India report on Social Sector, audit on infrastructure facilities in high and higher secondary schools, placed in the State Legislative Assembly on June 29 said that lack of laboratory equipment, library books and art and craft materials had also posed impediments to further development of education sector in Manipur.

The report pointed out that improving capacity in ICT skills suffered due to failure in putting together the necessary IT infrastructure, computer faculty and study materials in the school.

The CAG report took no effort in commenting that deployment of teachers was "skewed" and it was not done in proportion to the enrollment, as envisaged in the guidelines.

CAG also made it clear that the Department of Education (Schools) in Manipur is responsible for providing access to affordable quality school education from Class I to XII within easy reach.

With the enactment of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act), elementary education has become a fundamental right.

This has made the department more responsible for enforcing the RTE Act in the State for providing quality school education, said the report.

It also mentioned that Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has taken steps to translate this into letter and spirit and pointed out that another important Centrally Sponsored Scheme that is going hand and hand with SSA in the Secondary Education Sector is the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) .

It may be mentioned that the audit report had been focused mainly on the implementation of the provision and guidelines of RMSA for the creation of infrastructure in the schools to ensure affordable quality education under SSA and RMSA.

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