Govt action against schools that showed bogus students

Action will be initiated against 1,500 schools across the state for showing more than 50% bogus students – only proxy names on their attendance rolls – and siphoning off funds and the education department officials colluding with them, the state cabinet decided on Wednesday. Sayli Udas Mankikar reports.

Action will be initiated against 1,500 schools across the state for showing more than 50% bogus students – only proxy names on their attendance rolls – and siphoning off funds and the education department officials colluding with them, the state cabinet decided on Wednesday.

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The decision has been based on chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad’s recommendations on the census results of bogus students taken up by the school education department. The state education department had conducted an ambitious statewide video census across 1 lakh schools and junior colleges in the state. According to the census, 21 lakh students were found to be absent on the day the census was conducted. This makes up for roughly 10% of the 2 crore students studying in 1 lakh schools and junior colleges in the state.

According to senior ministers present at the cabinet meet, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has asked education minister Rajendra Darda to bring in the biometric method of attendance for students to plug such gaps in the future.

The students who will be affected in the process will be accommodated in other schools. Although the names of the schools have not been made public yet, it is likely that many of them are affiliated to education institutes run by politicians.