What can one say about the Education Department which has many a skeleton in the cupboard when we begin to make little probing into its activity. Numerically, it has perhaps the largest manpower to handle. Its reach is in each village and hamlet, each locality, town and city in the State. Not only that, it reaches directly or indirectly each house and each family. Such is the vast impact of this department. But despite that, at times, it becomes very callous towards the boys and girls that are the crown on its head.
Apart from the area of imparting education, we know that a number of pre-requisites are there that schools and institutions need to be provided to run efficiently and deliver the goods. It is the welfare of the students that is uppermost in the mind of policy planners in the country. In particular, the State is trying hard to remove the hurdles in the way of girl education so that they catch up with the boys and thus bring about a sea change in the social and economic life of the country. If the facilities provided by the Government are not implemented, we commit grave and inexcusable mistake. During the financial year 2011-12, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development sanctioned a sum of 80 crore rupees in favour of State Education Department for hostel facilities to the girl students of secondary and higher secondary schools in the Educationally Backward Blocks and computer/smart classes in other areas of the State. No fewer than 68 High and Higher Secondary Schools in the State would have derived benefit from this largesse of the HRD Ministry. Why the Education Department failed to utilize this amount and thus deprive the girl students from pursuing their education is a question that the Government shall have to answer. The facility would have opened facilities for hundreds of girl students of the State to continue their education up to the Higher Secondary level and beyond but the lethargy and carelessness of the functionaries of the Education Department has deprived them of this facility. Who is the culprit? In the Education Department, everybody is trying to pass the buck and shun responsibility. The present Government absolves itself of all responsibility and blame by saying that this scheme was the business of the previous Government. The previous Government is no more answerable because it is not in power now. No previous Government has ever owned responsibility for any administrative lacunae. Therefore without raising finger towards the previous Government, the present managers should immediately reopen the issue with the Union Finance and HRD Ministries and seek release of the amount with a promise of implementing the scheme for girl hostels in identified educational institutions in the State. It has to be borne in mind that the scheme of construction of hostels was specifically for the weaker sections and minorities in the State whose welfare is of great concern to the State.
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