Ghost students spook state: Permanent vacation for 97 Mumbai schools

In October last year it was time for authorities of school across the state to face a test for a change when the state government subjected their records to scrutiny and then conducted a video census to verify if the number of students on their rolls corresponded with the ones in their classrooms The state government is now busy drawing up sufficient punishment for schools that failed to make the grade In what could be the most ironfisted decision taken by it yet the CongressNCP government has decided to shut down 2600 schools which had failed to produce over 50 per cent of the students that they showed on their rolls Picture for representation Of the 2600 schools that face derecognition for their failure to match the numbers 97 are primary schools located in the Mumbai metropolis ndash of these 65 are from the island city and 32 from the suburban regions The state cabinet in a recent meeting chaired by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan decided to derecognise the schools as well as initiate criminal proceedings against the school management and their principals The state was spending about Rs 1263 crore on these nonexistent students each year The governmentrsquos stand was made clear in a statement issued by the CM in the State Assembly and the Deputy CM Ajit Pawar in the State Council Representation pic Politically incorrect The decision could cause great upheavals in the political world as most of the schools are run by politicians across party lines The cabinet had on two occasions discussed the matter but had failed to arrive at a consensus earlier In course of the special school census conducted in the first week of October last year it was discovered that 1016 per cent students were lsquoabsentrsquo in over 1 lakh schools across the state lsquo19 lakh students Absentees or bogusrsquo MiD DAY October 13 In Mumbai city 30 schools failed to produce 5059 per cent students while in another 20 schools between 60 and 69 per cent students were absent In three schools 7079 per cent students were missing 8089 per cent students did not report in one school while 90100 per cent nonattendance was reported at 11 schools Similarly in the Mumbai suburban district 22 schools failed to produce 5059 per cent students In eight schools 6069 per cent students were absent while one school showed 7079 per cent absence another managed to produce only 1019 per cent attendants Spooky Last year MiD DAY had reported on nonexistent students being shown on school rolls Written lsquohomeworkrsquo Confirming the details School Education Minister Rajendra Darda said that the government would come down hard on schools that performed poorly in the census It will soon be summoning written explanations from schools with over 10 per cent nonattendance As an antidote to the growing problem of bogus names in school roles the government will make it mandatory for students and teachers alike at all schools to have UID cards BMC bummer BMCrun schools fared quite poorly with an average 185 per cent nonattendance This has sent alarm bells ringing at the government level as the civic body spends approximately Rs 2000 crore for its schools every year This could well mean that a substantial part of the amount is being pocketed by imaginary students or at least those officials responsible for lsquodreamingrsquo them up BMC provides school bags uniforms midday meals scented milk and other facilities to its students Districts including Nanded Parbhani Dhule and Solapur have particularly high percentages of nonattendance Districts like Sindhudurg Ratnagiri Satara Kolhapur and Ahmednagar however had healthy percentages of attendance The state government revealed that all the trouble taken by its officers would pay off as the census will allow it to save Rs 1263 crore per annum ndash money that was being covertly stuffed into the spacious pockets of different school managements While the School Education department will save Rs 736 crore each year schools controlled by Social Justice Department will have to spend Rs 391 crore less But the Tribal Development department at Rs 136 crore will make the greatest save annually The state had appointed a committee under Chief Secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad to suggest modalities of action to be taken against schools with poor percentages of attendance and it recommended criminal proceedings against schools that scored less than 50 per cent The committee also recommended that district collectors be instructed to conduct another round of scrutiny in schools were over 20 per cent students had not reported and that the schools be derecognised if they were found unable to produce the lsquomissingrsquo pupils even in this time u00a0