E-Paper
Below 50% attendance in KGBVs in 30 U.P. districts
Low attendance in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) in Uttar Pradesh has caused concern. The state education department has instructed officials to ensure 100% attendance in these schools, which offer free residential schooling for girls from backward areas and communities. The lowest attendance was recorded in Ballia at 28%, while the highest was in Fatehpur at 79%. Officials have been warned that salaries will be withheld for wardens in schools with low attendance. The KGBV scheme aims to boost education among marginalized girls and is part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme.
Low attendance in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) offering free residential schooling facilities to girls from backward areas and communities of the state is causing concern to senior state education department officials.
Upset over less than 50% attendance recorded in these schools of 30 districts, director general, school education, and UP project director of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan Vijay Kiran Anand has instructed all basic shiksha adhikaris (BSAs) to get cracking.
In a missive sent on August 2, he directed the BSAs to review the situation in their respective districts as a priority and ensure 100% attendance in each KGBV running in their areas, said a senior district official.
The missive, a copy of which is with HT, the BSAs have been informed that the attendance of these schools for the months of May and July of all 746 Kasturba Gandhi schools operating in 73 districts of the state was reviewed through Prerna Portal.
The lowest attendance was found in Ballia at 28% while in Hathras it was 30% and Pratapgarh recorded average attendance of 31%. Likewise, in Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Deoria districts, 34% attendance was recorded while in Sant Kabir Nagar and Gautam Buddh Nagar, only 36% attendance was seen.
Fatehpur, which is on the list of aspirational districts, recorded 79% attendance and thereby topped the list sent with the missive by the DG (school education) to the BSAs.Shahjahanpur with 74% remained in second place even as Lakhimpur Kheri managed third place in the list with 73% average attendance.
The attendance of girl students in Kasturba Gandhi schools in May and July 2023 was found to be better in big districts with Lucknow registering 66%, Kanpur Dehat 67%, Varanasi showing 57% and Prayagraj registering an average attendance of 53%.
Confirming the development, BSA, Prayagraj, Praveen Kumar Tiwari said strict instructions had been issued to all officials to ensure 100% attendance of enrolled girl students at KGBVs.
“I visited the KGBV in Chaka development block at 8:15 am on Sunday for inspection and found students getting ready. Out of 100, 95 girls were present. Attendance in Shankargarh, Kaudihar and Saidabad schools was also found good,” he said.
Tiwari said that salaries of the wardens concerned will be withheld in the schools where less attendance is found. “Block education officers (BEOs) and academic resource persons (ARPs) have been given the responsibility of increasing attendance in schools in their respective areas,” the BSA said.
The KGBVs offer free of cost residential schooling facilities (from class 6 till class 8 at present with plans to extend then to class 12) to boost education among girls, especially those belonging to scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST), other backward classes (OBC) and minority communities as well children of below poverty line (BPL) families.
The KGBV scheme was launched by Government of India to make the education system more responsive to the needs of marginalised girls and to enhance their access and retention. Initially, it ran as a separate scheme but was merged with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme with effect from April 1, 2007.
