(News) Ghost schools haunt Bundelkhand

Ghost schools haunt Bundelkhand

While Bundelkhand is usually referred to as a grossly under-developed region of Madhya Pradesh, a village in Chhattarpur district might just qualify as “over-developed”, at least in the educational sphere.

Chhaapar village in Ishanagar/Chhattarpur block has as many as 11 government schools. With a population of just about 1,500, the village has one middle school, three primary schools and seven schools under the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS). Adding to the irony is Tadera revenue village in the same block which does not have a single school.

Under the Education Guarantee Scheme, “the Government gives a guarantee to provide a primary schooling facility to the children in a habitation where there is no such facility within a km”. The EGS schools in Chhaapar operate within a distance of 200 to 300 metres from each other.

“This has just been brought to my knowledge and we are looking into it,” says Raghuraj Rajendran, CEO of Ishanagar block. The contract for mid-day meals to be prepared in all 11 schools has been given out to one NGO in which the panchayat secretary allegedly has a vested interest. The NGO, Ambedkar Swa-Sahayata Samooh, has hired several women workers to prepare the mid-day meals in the schools, which the villagers say are highly irregular.

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Courtesy:- The Hindu