BPL benefits may go if wards study in private schools
Rajiv Mahajan
Nurpur April 19
If you can afford to educate your child at a private school, should you be entitled to facilities extended by the government for those living below poverty line (BPL)?
Going by the decision of the gram sabha of Pandrer panchayat in the Nurpur area, families who are on the BPL list in the panchayat record, but are educating their children in private schools, could lose the status and subsequent benefits.
The panchayat wants to set an example so that the people start sending their children to government schools rather than being lured by private schools, some of which do not have proper infrastructure and teaching staff.
In the aftermath of the April 9 Nurpur bus mishap, which claimed the lives of 24 schoolchildren, Pandrer panchayat has decided to delete names of families whose children are studying in private schools from the BPL list. The move aims at encouraging people to enroll children in government schools, opened in almost every panchayat. There has been a steep decline in enrolment in government schools, especially in rural areas all over the state.
Incidentally, in this panchayat, there are 41 registered BPL families, out of which half are sending their children to private schools in the surrounding areas as the panchayat is sans any private school.
Parents have enrolled their wards in private schools at Sadwan, Mehraka, Suliali and Nurpur. Local MLA Rakesh Pathania had been approached to get Government Primary School at Pandrer reopened.
The Education Department was forced to close the school in 2016 after parents shifted their wards to private schools in the vicinity of the village. The school building was built during 2001-2002 under the Saraswati Baal Vidya Yojana. The building is locked and is in a dilapidated condition.
“When the government has opened schools in every village, why should the people send their children to private schools. If they wish to do so, their names will be struck off the BPL list,” said Sikander Rana, panchayat pradhan. He emphasised that children were safer in government schools as these were located either in the village or nearby.
Rana said residents also offered to provide desks and bear the expenses of whitewash and paint of the building. The government must ensure the posting of English teacher in the school,” he added.
Decline in enrolment in govt schools
- The move aims at encouraging people to enroll their children in government schools, opened in almost every panchayat.
- There has been a steep decline in enrolment in government schools, especially in rural areas all over the state.
- In Pandrer panchayat, there are 41 registered BPL families, out of which half are sending their children to private schools in the surrounding areas as the panchayat does not have any private school.
