Rights panel seeks govt report

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 12

The Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) has taken suo motu notice of a report regarding delay in grant of funds to 11 lakh schoolchildren for purchase of uniforms published in The Tribune and sought a report from the authorities.

In the order issued on Tuesday, Justice SK Mittal (retd), chairperson, Justice KC Puri (retd) and Deep Mehta, both members, sought a factual report from the Additional Chief Secretary, School Education Department, and Project Director of the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) on the issue.

In the news item “Bureaucratic delay denies grant for uniforms to 11 lakh schoolkids” published on December 8, The Tribune had reported that over 11 lakh schoolchildren in Haryana had been awaiting funds for the purchase of uniforms which they normally got at the start of the session under the SSA.

Of these, 7.90 lakh children were girls, 3 lakh Scheduled Caste boys and 23,000 boys belonging to below poverty line (BPL) families.

It was reported that though the Central Government had released its share of funds for the scheme at the start of the session, the authorities had not been able to transfer funds into bank accounts of children, most of whom were from poor families.

An official of the Finance Department had maintained that the SSA had enough funds to transfer the grant for uniforms into the accounts of schoolchildren.

The HHRC observed that it had been specifically mentioned in the new report that under the Right to Education Act, 2009, all schoolgirls and schoolboys belonging to the Scheduled Caste and below poverty line families studying from Class I to Class VIII got two sets of uniforms, one for summer and one for winter, every year.

The HHRC observed that the fact that three quarters of the year had elapsed and school uniforms had not been provided to schoolchildren was in itself a violation of their human rights.

“Considering the facts, the commission takes suo motu cognisance of the news item. Let factual reports be requisitioned from the Additional Chief Secretary, School Education, as well as from the Project Director, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, within a period of six weeks,” read the order passed by the HHRC.

Over 11 lakh schoolkids without uniforms 

• Over 11 lakh schoolchildren in Haryana have been awaiting funds for the purchase of uniforms which they normally get at the start of the session under the SSA
• Of these, 7.90 lakh children are girls, 3 lakh Scheduled Caste boys and 23,000 boys belonging to below poverty line (BPL) families
• It was reported that though the Central Government had released its share of funds for the scheme at the start of the session, the authorities had not been able to transfer funds into bank accounts of children, most of whom were from poor families
• An official of the Finance Department had maintained that the SSA had enough funds to transfer the grant for uniforms into the accounts of schoolchildren