Maharashtra govt comes under fire over school infrastructure

Maharashtra Government has received flak from legislators of all the parties in the Legislative Assembly over Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by NGO Pratham, which says that 97% of schools have toilets for boys and 91% have independent girls' toilets.

Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse (BJP) and several legislators from both treasury and opposition benches criticised the government for accepting the report by the Centre-sponsored NGO, questioning figures therein, and said the lack of drinking water and water in toilets in schools was a cause of concern.

BJP's Devendra Phadanvis, Amin Patel (Congress) and others objected to the School Education Minister Rajendra Darda's statement that educational standards in Maharashtra were better than those of other states.

Vallabh Benke (NCP) asked the minister to take feedback from the elected representatives rather than relying on NGOs. He said even if there are toilets in schools, there is often no water.

Benke said out of the 829 schools surveyed, 14.1% students cannot read books for standard two.

The legislators said the government cannot meet the timeframe of March 31, 2012 to complete construction of remaining toilets in schools. They demanded that the government issue a white paper on the infrastructure in schools and their educational status.

Phadanvis also criticised the discrepancies in the figures provided by the NGO and by the state government.