The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar has drawn flak from allies as well as adversaries over the state Education Department's move to strike off the names of more than 20 lakh students from government schools for remaining absent. Those whose names have been struck off also include 2.66 lakh students who were supposed to appear for Class X and XII Board exams, as stated in a report by PTI.
Further, giving more details, an official said that the Education Department has, so far, struck off names of 20,60,340 students (till October 19, 2023) from government schools after it began a drive to improve attendance since September 1, 2023. The drive was initiated following instructions issued by KK Pathak, Additional Chief Secretary of the Education department.
In a letter dated September 2, 2023 to all District Magistrates, Pathak ordered drastic measures like expulsion of students who remain absent for 15 days at a stretch and "tracking" boys and girls studying in private schools, or in far-off places like Kota while remaining enrolled in government schools to avail benefits of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme for textbooks and uniforms, as stated in a report by PTI.
Criticism pours in
CPI (ML) Liberation MLA Sandeep Saurav told PTI, "This is simply a dictatorial decision taken by the department. The department has no right to play with the careers of students. The department must know that government schools are still facing an acute shortage of teachers and classrooms."
"How can the department expect 100 per cent attendance of students, when there are no teachers to teach subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics in higher classes? This is the responsibility of the department to provide all basic infrastructural and academic facilities in government schools first and then implement mandatory attendance rules for students," he added.
Additionally, Saurav, who is also the National General Secretary of the All India Students' Association (AISA) and former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) General Secretary said, "We demand immediate withdrawal of this order of the Education department".
The CPI (ML) Liberation is an alliance partner of the Grand Alliance government in Bihar. The leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Vijay Kumar Sinha, told PTI, "If government schools in Bihar are facing acute shortage of teachers, students will have no option to…they (students) will certainly join private coaching institutes to complete their syllabus."
"The Nitish Kumar government has miserably failed in improving the deteriorating condition of government schools in the state. I must say that students are being victimised by the state government just to hide serious shortcomings in the education system in Bihar. We demand immediate restoration of enrollments of those students whose names have been struck off," he stressed.
However, despite repeated attempts by the PTI, Bihar Education Minister, Chandra Shekhar, was not available to share his comments on the issue.
