Maha shuts bogus schools: Is it ready for a fightback?

Seldom has the Maharashtra government taken such a drastic decision with such widespread impact: close down some 2,700 schools across the state, which had bogus students on their rolls, and sack 1,500 teachers from such schools because that was a fraud eating away round Rs 1,000 cr per annum. It disregarded cronyism – most such schools were run by politicians or their henchmen under their protection – and bureaucratic interest in sharing slices from that multi-crore rupee pie. It also disregarded the shares of that Rs 1,000 crore. It was laudable. In the bargain, amid enthusiasm for a landmark self-exposure of a huge fraud, it ignored the procedural complications in closing down the schools and sacking teachers who are surplus because of the closure. The outcome: the government machinery that has to implement the cabinet’s decision is stymied. [caption id=“attachment_291295” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“It is quite possible that some strong vested interests, harmed by this drive to detect, may band together and promote a union of teachers affected and take the issue to the courts. Reuters”]  [/caption] There are serious issues involved. Where would the students go if schools were shut down? Each of the schools with bogus students also had genuine students. If they were to go elsewhere, would other schools be able to accommodate them? And interestingly, can the government just fire the teachers whose salaries they were paying all along? The teachers are the victims of the fraud and may have been just doing their job of teaching. What happens to them? The hard-to-believe dimension is that 2,700 schools are those which had more than 50 percent of the total strength as bogus, officially described as ‘absentee students’. There are schools with lesser such students which means, not all fraudulent schools are in the net or risk closure. Once the schools are closed down, or even prior to it, the managements can be served notices, heard and proceeded against by closing the schools. They would also need to be separately held accused of a financial fraud and charged in courts. That itself is a huge task unless the government finds a single mastermind or a few rascals at the centre of the mess and treats it as a big conspiracy to bleed the government. It well might find a scapegoat since the cronies are the most hurt and they have local clout to trouble the government, with the next general elections due in 2014. That would also mitigate the woes of the individual fraudsters who all worked to a pattern – apply the one-size-fits-all rule of inflating the rolls, falsifying musters of teachers, or hire them and pay much less than the official rates on false vouchers. Also, with bigger number of students than they actually had, seek and secure funds for the mid-day schemes, and with lower bills, pocket the rest. It worked like a dream till Education Minister Rajendra Darda smelt a rat last year on a visit to Nanded and ordered a survey. He asked the education officials to remain in their offices and used others, virtually bringing the governmental work at the cutting edge to a halt. That provided him a halo but his cabinet colleagues did not easily buy the idea of strict action. He rammed it down their throat – a laudable success – and decided on the obvious: close and sack. If it were only so easy; he must not be relishing the fat getting into the fire. Now the entire decision is at risk because the task is riddled with paperwork and hearings. Imagine 2,700 school managements being given a hearing after notices; likewise with the teachers. The official machinery is likely to be tied down in enormous paperwork which, as we all know, is famous for its excruciatingly slow pace. Ironically, it has to be handled by the department which either encouraged it or turned a blind eye when the mischief was afoot. So far; there has been no word about the government’s view on the culpability of the officialdom. It is hard to believe that it is staffed by only angels. It is quite possible that some strong vested interests harmed by this drive to detect, determine and dissolve bogus schools – or schools with bogus students – may band together and promote a union of teachers affected and take the issue to the courts. Or have a teacher file a petition against the government and lockdown the entire good intent of Darda. The entire episode is turning into a vexatious problem from which no direct escape is possible, though it is a fact that it has not been announced if the closure would be this year itself or in the next summer school holidays, hopefully completing the paperwork. Surely Darda, despite his heroic step, may not be exactly smiling. For, the fat’s in the fire. Hard to stick to the decision; equally hard to go ahead with it.