Sarlahi: Many schools have mushroomed in Sarlahi district but only on papers in order to pocket the money provided by the government for education.

According to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), there are a staggering 178 such bogus schools in Sarlahi.

The fact was revealed by the CIAA after conducting a two-day field survey of all public and community schools in the district.
During the survey, most of the schools were not operating at all as some of them even didn´t have school building; while many others lacked teachers - and even principals in some cases.

The monitoring team consisted of four CIAA officials, including under secretary Ram Krishna Subedi, and a representative each from the Regional Education Directorate, District Administration Office, District Development Committee (DDC) and District Education Office (DEO).

"The reality shocked us as many schools were only registered. We have sought clarification from the DEO in this regard," said Shankar Bahadur Thapa, coordinator of the monitoring team.

"Even those schools, which physically existed, were operating without proper management and facilities," added Thapa.  Talking to Republica, a local held poor monitoring of the DEO and other authorities concerned for the sorry state of affairs.

"These schools are run only with an aim to pocket the money provided by the government and education was never their primary motive," said the local.

Meanwhile, an officer at the DEO admitted the CIAA recently sought clarification wth the office regarding the scam. "We are looking into the matter with much concern," said the officer.

As per a DEO record, 675 schools in Sarlahi have been registered with the DEO.

source:republica,14 jan 2014