VELLORE: At least `120 crore, allocated as assistance for thousands of SCST girl students under the National Scheme of Incentive to Girl Child Education (NSIGCE), remains unused due to apathy of education departmentofficials and lack of coordination among the implementing agencies.According to documents available, the Union ministry of human resource development allocated `152.17 crore under the scheme between 2008-09 and 2012-13. Only `28.57 crore had, however, been disbursed to the beneficiaries from 2008-09 to 2010-11. The ministry on January 6 took back the remaining `123.6 crore from the Government Business Branch of Canara Bank, New Delhi, the nodal agency for the scheme.
The scheme was designed to promote enrollment among girls from SC ST communities and retain them up to Class XII. Under the scheme, `3,000 would be deposited in each student’s bank account after they enrolled in Class IX. Those psiing Class X would be entitled to withdraw the money with interest after they attain 18 years. According to dalit activist and member of Dalit Liberation Movement S Karuppaiah, the state and Union governments had failed miserably to execute the scheme.
Lack of coordination among the departments of the state and Union governments undid the scheme.”Ambiguity prevails over the disbursement of the fund and the channel to reach the beneficiaries. The MHRD, school education department of TN and the bank are giving contradictory details and statements over the number of beneficiaries, fund allocation and payments,” Karuppaiah told TOI. He filed a case in the Madras high court. Attempts to reach officials of the various departments proved futile.
May 30, 2017 at 9:37 pm
The money earmarked for girl students education remaining unspent is pathetic. This reflects the laxity being shown by the rulers on the welfare of girlchild