THE CAG, while auditing the implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, has found that while around 6.22 lakh students were not provided free books during 2012 to 2016, 97 lakh were not provided uniforms in 2011-2016 despite funds being available for the same.

Contrary to this, the audit in Firozabad, Maharajganj, Ghazipur and Sonbhadra has revealed that 34.68 lakh extra books — worth Rs 4.23 crore — was procured during 2012-2016.

While observing that there was a shortage of 1.75 lakh teachers, the CAG report stated that the government did not deploy the existing faculty “rationally”, as schools with more students had lesser number of teachers and those with less than 50 students had more teachers. Similarly, physical verification of 428 schools had found that there was shortage of 272 classrooms in 111 schools, whereas there was excess of 442 classrooms in 166 schools.

The report also found that out of 1.6 lakh schools, about 50,849 had no playgrounds, 57,107 had no boundary walls, 35,995 had no libraries, 2,978 had no drinking water facilities and about 1,734 did not have separate toilets for boys and girls. Further, there was no electricity in 34,098 primary and upper primary schools, though internal electrification was carried out at a cost of Rs 64 crore during the time of their construction, the report said.

Regarding admission for children from poor and disadvantages sections, it was found that against the intake capacity of about 6 lakh such children, only 108 and 3,278 children were provided admissions in 2014-15 and 2015-16, respectively.

In Sonbhadra district, the report found that Rs 19.25 lakh was drawn in 2003-2004 for construction of eight schools but the schools were either not constructed or not completed. Further, it was observed that while enrolment of children in government or government-aided schools decreased by 18 per cent during 2010-2016, it increased by 36 per cent in private schools during this period.

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