Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 24: The up-gradation of 800 schools in the length and breadth of the State is only a political gimmick aimed at befooling the electorates ahead of Assembly elections as concurrence/approval of Planning and Finance Departments, which is pre-requisite for such a large scale exercise, has yet not been obtained by the School Education Department.
Due to this, no benefit would percolate to the students from this politically driven decision of the Government as in the absence of approval/concurrence from the key departments neither the School Education Department would be able to meet the infrastructure requirement nor fill up the posts projected for these upgraded schools.
The only benefit would be of the politicians, who have without wastage of time started dedicating these schools to the public by keeping them in dark about the time-frame within which these upgraded institutions would become functional in real sense.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that up-gradation of Middle Schools to the level of High Schools and High Schools to the level of Higher Secondary Schools was being considered by the School Education Ministry during the past quite long time and this issue was even informally discussed in the State Cabinet a number of times.
However, this long drawn exercise could not be completed mainly because of political interests, which led to submission of one after another lists by several Ministers and MLAs seeking up-gradation of schools projected by them, sources said, adding this was the main reason behind the State Cabinet suggesting more thought process whenever the issue was brought up for discussion.
“Due to this, the focus remained only on the schools to be upgraded and no serious thought could be paid towards formulating a comprehensive proposal and seeking approval/concurrence from the Planning and Finance Departments, which otherwise is mandatory as per the Manual of Secretariat Procedure”, sources said.
Fearing that announcement of Assembly elections by the Election Commission of India and subsequent imposition of Model Code of Conduct would act as a stumbling block in taking decision about up-gradation of such a large number of schools with one single stroke of pen to win over the electorates, the School Education Ministry two days back obtained approval of Cabinet for up-gradation of 800 schools that too without following the laid down procedure.
“This is notwithstanding the fact that during the previous two Cabinet meetings this issue was informally discussed but no decision could be taken for want of certain formalities”, sources said, adding “this clearly established that up-gradation of 800 schools—468 Middle Schools to the level of High Schools and 332 High Schools to the level of Higher Secondary Schools is only aimed at making this a political issue ahead of elections”.
Even the Government Order No.737-Edu dated October 22, 2014 regarding up-gradation of 800 schools clearly states: “the order is subject to the approval/concurrence of the Planning and Finance Departments for the creation of 5720 number of posts of different level for 800 schools proposed for up-gradation and engagement of 10,000 Casual Workers including 6000 NYC for these schools”.
“Since financial implication of Rs 24375.76 lakh per annum is involved in the creation of 5720 number of posts of different level and Rs 39.60 crore for engagement of 10000 CWs how would the School Education Ministry be able to make these schools functional without the approval of Finance and Planning Department is a million dollar question”, sources said.
It is pertinent to mention here that it is only after the approval and concurrence of these two departments that any proposal involving such a huge financial implication can become reality. The Planning Department has to see how much funds it can earmark for capital component (construction of infrastructure) from the Plan funds and Finance Department has to see whether the Government would be able to meet the burden of revenue component.
A senior officer, on the condition of anonymity, said, “any query or condition by any of these two key departments can put on hold the entire exercise for up-gradation of schools but unmindful of this aspect the announcement regarding up-gradation has been made”, adding “even the financial condition of the Government cannot permit it to go in for such a large scale up-gradation in one go”.
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