GERARD DE SOUZA
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PANJIM: Just as the Goa Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan had got its act together and utilized 80 per cent of the sanctioned grants in 2012-13, the Human Resource Development Ministry has effected cuts in maintenance grants for classrooms, teachers grants for buying teaching aids, funds for Computer Aided Learning and for other Innovative schemes. Funds for civil works too will be stopped.
Director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Farrell Furtado who had just returned from a meeting of all the State heads in New Delhi, said the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had Rs 2,000 crore slashed in the Union Budget and the cuts would be effected all India, not just Goa.
“The grant of Rs 500 per month per teacher for primary and upper primary has not been sanctioned for all States. School maintenance grant of Rs 5,000 for those with three classrooms and Rs 7,000 for those with more than three classrooms has also not been sanctioned,” Furtado said.
The teachers used to get Rs 500 a month to buy teaching aids for students and could claim it by producing bills for the purchase of such items. Further, schools used to get a grant for the maintenance of the classrooms and premises, which they will be deprived of next year.
According to Furtado, the other areas that State will lose out on include the Rs 50 crore per district they used to get for computer aided learning, which they could distribute through the schools as well as the Rs 50 lakh per district they used to avail of for ‘innovative schemes’.
Through these innovative scheme fund the state, SSA used to organize programmes for girls’ education, students of urban deprived, Early Childhood Care and Education, programmes for SC/ST and minority community students and other such programmes.
Teachers too will have just three days of mandatory workshops in the coming year as opposed to 10 days they had for the now concluding year 2012-13.
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been a major source of funds for the State education and were used to organize programmes such as skill workshops for students or tribal dance competitions to preserve the cultures and other activities for students.
In previous years, the State SSA had received a rap for underutilization of funds. In 2011-12 state used just 3 per cent of the allocated funds.
