Officials' pleasure trips dent SSA’s reputation
By Asha P.Nair
16th June 2011 06:03 AM
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), which had created a positive ambience in government schools, deviated from its course in the recent years; thanks to its officials, who knew not how to spent the elephantine funds coming their way.
There is possibly no other reason for the pleasure trips (in the guise of exposure trips), around 10, which were undertaken by various SSA officials in the past six months alone.
The shocking aspect is that many of the officials had gone on the trip in the month of March, when usually it’s stock-taking time for the SSA project - a time to wrap up the account books and evaluate and conceptualise old and new projects in schools. Sample this: The office of the State Project Director (SPD) had remained inactive from March 6 to 12, when the administrative officials in the Directorate (including 12 clerks) were on tour.
They had gone to learn about the working of Himachal Pradesh SSA!
Not just programme officers, IEDC officials, trainers and members of teachers’ organisations have, at many times (over the last few years), taken ‘exposure trips’. This include the state representatives of the pro-Congress GSTU (Government School Teachers Union) which had petitioned the State Government against the fund utilisation in SSA leading to a Vigilance inquiry against the project in the state. The reply given by SSA to a Right to Information application filed by M Shaji, of Mele Thampanoor here, says the exposure trip, which was taken out to Rajasthan in March had the representatives of 31 teachers’ organisations, including the president and secretary of the GSTU.
“The trip had cost Rs 4,18,971. Only KSTA and KSTU had kept away,’’ it says. In January, the Learning and Enhancement Programme (LEP) coordinators (who are ordinary teachers) had taken out a trip to Kolkata and Darjeeling. That they travelled by flight reveals that they had availed of undeserving travel allowances.
In February, IEDC officials had undertaken a trip to North India. It is also found that the IEDC Resource Teachers team (more than 1,500 of them) had gone on trips during the period between January and May to places including Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore.
The District Programme Officers had travelled to Ahmedabad, Udaipur and Jaipur (in flight) in January. The Thiruvananthapuram DPO had the privilege of being the part of the team of teachers’ organisations too. The trainers in Thiruvananthapuram went on a tour to other states in March.
If a wider span of time is taken into account, more cases would stumble out. Though some of the exposure trips had helped enhance the charecter of the SSA, the 'pleasure trips’ on the other hand had given it a rotten look.
There is possibly no other reason for the pleasure trips (in the guise of exposure trips), around 10, which were undertaken by various SSA officials in the past six months alone.
The shocking aspect is that many of the officials had gone on the trip in the month of March, when usually it’s stock-taking time for the SSA project - a time to wrap up the account books and evaluate and conceptualise old and new projects in schools. Sample this: The office of the State Project Director (SPD) had remained inactive from March 6 to 12, when the administrative officials in the Directorate (including 12 clerks) were on tour.
They had gone to learn about the working of Himachal Pradesh SSA!
Not just programme officers, IEDC officials, trainers and members of teachers’ organisations have, at many times (over the last few years), taken ‘exposure trips’. This include the state representatives of the pro-Congress GSTU (Government School Teachers Union) which had petitioned the State Government against the fund utilisation in SSA leading to a Vigilance inquiry against the project in the state. The reply given by SSA to a Right to Information application filed by M Shaji, of Mele Thampanoor here, says the exposure trip, which was taken out to Rajasthan in March had the representatives of 31 teachers’ organisations, including the president and secretary of the GSTU.
“The trip had cost Rs 4,18,971. Only KSTA and KSTU had kept away,’’ it says. In January, the Learning and Enhancement Programme (LEP) coordinators (who are ordinary teachers) had taken out a trip to Kolkata and Darjeeling. That they travelled by flight reveals that they had availed of undeserving travel allowances.
In February, IEDC officials had undertaken a trip to North India. It is also found that the IEDC Resource Teachers team (more than 1,500 of them) had gone on trips during the period between January and May to places including Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore.
The District Programme Officers had travelled to Ahmedabad, Udaipur and Jaipur (in flight) in January. The Thiruvananthapuram DPO had the privilege of being the part of the team of teachers’ organisations too. The trainers in Thiruvananthapuram went on a tour to other states in March.
If a wider span of time is taken into account, more cases would stumble out. Though some of the exposure trips had helped enhance the charecter of the SSA, the 'pleasure trips’ on the other hand had given it a rotten look.
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