Vigilance, ED inspects 57 schools in AP to set things right

Vijayawada: Teams of the state Vigilance and Enforcement department inspected 57 schools in districts across Andhra Pradesh on Friday and detected 54 irregularities in the implementation of the Jagananna Gorumudda (mid-day meals) scheme.

The teams were broadly assessing the implementation of the Jagananna Vidya Kanuka scheme in schools to ensure its better reach and results.

The inspection teams found that the cloth distributed under the scheme for uniforms in some schools was insufficient for the children and the amount given for its stitching was also less than normal.

They also noticed that in some schools, the quality of bags given to students was not good. Torn bags were not replaced with new ones in almost all schools. The bag capacity was insufficient to carry all the books, it was found in most of the inspected schools.

It is suspected that an unholy cut was made from all these, from the government allocations made to schools under the scheme.

Hindi textbooks were not supplied to students who joined late in ZPH School, Lolugu (V), Ponduru (M), Srikakulam district. As many as 169 text books of different subjects in English and Telugu medium for the 9th class students were not supplied.

Shoes were not distributed to most of the students. Those who got the pair had a size problem and they returned these for replacement in most schools. The quality of the shoes was very poor.

The officials found that under the Jagananna Gorumudda (mid-day meals) scheme, utensils were not sufficient for cooking at the ZPHS, Nandyal district. Eggs were not sufficient for the students taking the meals due to a “delay” in the supply of eggs in MPT school, Bapatla, Eluru and Anantapur rural mandal.

Surprisingly, in most of the schools, inspections by MEO/DEO have not been carried out for the last few years. In most schools, the RO plant was not to be found. There was a shortage of eggs and chikkis in the  ZPH School in Eluru dist.

Excess stocks of eggs and chikki were found in ZP High Schools in Guntur, Chittoor and Visakhapatnam districts. No MDM logo was found on the rice bags in government high schools in Prakasam, Chittoor and Annamayya district. In most schools, kitchen sheds were not in hygienic condition.