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Patna,(BiharTimes): The news is that lakhs of parents of school children were involved in the fake admission of their children to get the government benefit like money for bicycle and uniform and scholarship. The even bigger news is that this whole scam––which was an open secret––could hit the headlines of the media in Bihar only after the chief minister, Nitish Kumar, recently ordered a probe into it. |
Till then the Press and NGOs working in the education sector, were all praise for the state government for its outstanding achievement in the field of enrolment of children in schools.
The chief minister himself, his HRD minister and his officials would miss no opportunity to boast that this is the single biggest achievement of the state government in the last six years. Now it is turning out to be the biggest shame for the state as, none else but the school-children, were involved in this corruption racket. In this age of innocence they were made tool to earn money through wrong means.
What is strange is that this enormous racket had been flourishing notwithstanding the fact that of all the mediahouses, BiharTimes, had alerted long back about the existence of fake admission in the name of earning benefit from the government schemes, some of them centrally-funded.
A survey done by the government suggests that about half a million school children in just 11 out of 38 districts are involved in the fake admission in the state. The overall figure of the state may run into millions.
Now it has been exposed that the Bihar government’s claim of huge enrolment of children to school was bogus and has nothing to do with the ground reality.
The education department of Bihar found children enrolled in more than one school, taking advantage of the benefits of government-sponsored schemes such as school uniforms, cycles, and scholarships.
Majority of the cases have been detected in three categories––students enrolled twice in the same class, students enrolled twice/thrice in the same school and students enrolled more than once in other government schools.
This is just the state government version. There is another category too. Children studying in many private schools, especially in rural areas, get themselves enrolled in the government schools too to get benefit of the schemes. They attend their classes in private schools––as government schools hardly impart any education––but take cash amount for bicycle or uniform, which is distributed only once in a year, from the government school.
In many cases children studying in Class VII or VIII would switch over to the other government schools in Class-IX as bicycle scheme is meant for the higher class kids. Incidentally, school girls were made the tool for this racket as initially these schemes were meant only for them.
When a girl topped in the Class-X exam it was trumpeted by the same state government that she achieved this feat because she got bicycle. Now what would happen to all these children.
After the state government adopted the CBSE pattern of evaluation of the copies in high school exam in Bihar Board schools hardly any children fails. Even the duffers get 80 per cent marks.
Now the state government had said that it would take action against all the parents––even if they are in lakhs or millions. “The government gave Rs 2,000 to all the school children. Now it will spent Rs 4,000 on each of them to file cases, pursue them and recover the amount,” commented a political observer.
But what about the NGOs, newspapers and private TV channels giving awards to the Nitish government for creating a sort of world record in school enrollment and bringing down illiteracy?
comments...
the fake certificate racket should not surprise any one who has been watching closely the unfolding story in bihar . but first let us look at the media projection of the story - it is trying to portray nitish kumar in a very positive light . ah! just look at him, he has unearthed such a big racket . are we entittled to know what was he doing when close to 1200 crores were being siphoned off in a loot of gignatic proportion where close to ten lac fake students may have been enrolled . which means a very significant section of biohari population availed of the opportunity provided by the government for corruption .
he has already taken the credit for record enrolment in schools . those figures were flaunted , awards were taken , success storires were written about how bihar is leading the rest , why bihar should be emulated. but every one who had his ears close to the ground knew that it was institutionalised bribery the benificiaries of the graft- they are in such large numbers- were the propagandists for the regime. what were his ofiicials doing , the fellows in the h r d department , his much vaunted anti corruption machinery.more importantly why should we trust the figures reeld out by his government day in and day out.
but we must gear up for more such stories . the health department is due any time now to reveal its well known secrets of loot,the agriculture department , the racket in procurement of loots , the open loot in the urban development department in approving maps , the fudging of records relating to repair and manintenance of bundhs, and now the almost legalised demand for bribe for transfers and postings of officers.
this government is corrupt like no government was before because the media is underwritng its corruption. they are equal shares partner. where were these fellows when the whole racket was taking place . enjoying the hospitality of the govt. but they cannot be voted out . they may contribute to the fall of the govt by lulling it into complascencebut they will continue to have a ball .they are no friends of the government. had they been one they would have alerted their friend much earlier.
thakur ravindra singh
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I think corruption has become a good football in today's time, while conveniently overlooking at our own conscience.
We are all corrupt to the core but wants others to be honest. No body likes a dishonest man but very few are honest themselves.
So, our job is to 'loot' as much as we can and start crying hoarse about others. Otherwise, how else can one explain when a parent (and they are so many of them) enrolls his wards at more than one places just to avail the freebies, or producing fake certificates to get a job?
No society (or government) can eradicate corruption when 90% of themselves are corrupt.
One very fashionable thing toady is to paint all politicians with black, put all blame on the government and your job is done. My question to them is - Are these politicians or bureaucrats created on Mars? Aren't they reflection of your own? When you give or take bribe in front of your own kid, how come you expect him to become a saint?
Alok Kumar Singh
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