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JAIPUR: The objectives of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), launched by the Centre in March 2009 to make quality education accessible and affordable, have not been met, according to the 2017-18 CAG report tabled in the assembly on Friday.

The project had targeted students in the 14-18 age group.

While there has been steady progress in implementing the scheme during the 2013-18 period, the report noted that 22.55% habitations (34,065 out of 1,51,042) did not have access to secondary schools within the prescribed limit of five kilometres.

This shows that the objective of RMSA to ensure universal access to secondary education by 2017 has not been met.

In 44% (99 out of 225) schools, the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) ranged between 31:1 and 190:1. This pointed to the asymmetrical distribution of teachers in schools and did not reflect the overall state-level PTR that stood within the prescribed limit of 30:1. The government has failed to provide basic infrastructure facilities in every school even after nine years of implementing RMSA, it said.

Though the gross enrolment ratio (enrolment in Class IX and X as a percentage of total population) in the 14-15 age group in the state increased from 71.12% in 2013-14 to 78.87% in 2017-18, it’s still far away from achieving the goal of universal access to secondary education.

