Maharashtra govt on the receiving end over school infrastructure

Updated on: Monday, March 26, 2012

Legislators of all the parties in the Legislative Assembly have criticised Maharashtra Government Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by NGO Pratham, which says that 97 per cent of schools have toilets for boys and 91 per cent have independent girls' toilets.

Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse (BJP) and several legislators from both treasury and opposition benches criticised the government for accepting the report by the Centre-sponsored NGO, questioning figures therein, and said the lack of drinking water and water in toilets in schools was a cause of concern.

School Education Minister Rajendra Darda's statement that educational standards in Maharashtra were better than those of other states was objected to by BJP's Devendra Phadanvis, Amin Patel (Congress) and others.

Vallabh Benke (NCP) asked the minister to take feedback from the elected representatives rather than relying on NGOs. He said even if there are toilets in schools, there is often no water. Benke said out of the 829 schools surveyed, 14.1 per cent students cannot read books for standard two.
   
The legislators said the government cannot meet the timeframe of March 31, 2012 to complete construction of remaining toilets in schools. They demanded that the government issue a white paper on the infrastructure in schools and their educational status.

Phadanvis also criticised the discrepancies in the figures between  the NGO and by the state government.

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