Nellore: Vigilance and enforcement department officials were baffled wh-en they noticed serious irregularities in seasonal hostels and residential special training centres during recent inspections.
Hostels and schools have been established under the auspice of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan in different parts of the state including Nellore district for the benefit of school children as part of RTE Act, 2009. As per RTE Act, 2009, every child of the age of six to fourteen years, has the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education.
There are 10 SHs and 19 RSTCs operating in Nellore and irregularities came to light when four teams from vigilance inspected four hostels and four RSTCs recently.
While SHs are desi-gned for dropouts and out of school children, V&E wing officials found regular students enrol-led in the hostels, utte-rly defeating the object of the programme. While it is mandatory to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner, vigilance staff noticed deviations in all eight seasonal hostels/RSTCs inspected.
Stipulations related to accommodation for 25 to 50 students in SHs and RSTCs were violated and all 8 centres were found operating in isolated buildings.
The officials were flabbergasted when they found an RSTC at North Rajupalem oper-ating in an abandoned building having no electricity and water facilities. According to vigilance officials, residential schools have been proposed for the benefit of out of school children.
SHs are intended to impart special training to children affected due to migration of their parents to other places for a livelihood. They provide lodging and boarding to such children alongside meeting their educational requirements.
These hostels operate for a prescribed period of four to six months and offer subject material along with a tutor. The residential special training centres are meant for those who are not admitted in school or could not complete their education up to the elementary level. Such students should be admitted in RSTCs in a class appropriate to his/her age.
To accomplish this task, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh had introduced the concept of RSTCs (to be implemented under S.S.A., Andhra Pradesh). However the objective is defeated because of the negligence of officials implementing the programme through SSA, a vigilance official alleged.
SSA officials lack awareness on their own schemes meant for children
