Rayagada district has 11 blocks, all of which have been declared as EBBs (Educationally Backward Blocks) by the Centre. The women literacy in the district is 39 per cent, which is one of the lowest in the country. The dropout in 2007-08 was 17.22 per cent and in 2008-09, it was 17.20 per cent – both the year highest in the State. Now, in the year 2011-12, of course, it stands third highest.
According to statistics of DISE-2008-09, the Educational Development Index (EDI) rank of the district is 27. According to OPEPA, there are no schools in 918 villages out of total 2,833 in the district. Out of 2,071 schools, there is no common toilet in 991 and girls’ toilet in 1,344 schools. No drinking water facility in 409 schools, no electricity in 1,786 schools, no play ground for 1,883 schools, no kitchen shed in 1,198 schools, co building in 233 schools and no boundary in 989 schools. These are not at all good indicators of development as prescribed by the UN agencies.
In the context of this, the State Government with assistance from the Centre implemented bridge courses for the dropouts and never enrolled children as one of the interventions through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
The never enrolled and dropped out children in the older age group (8-14 years) need time for preparation to get mainstreamed in respective classes as per their age. To realise this, the bridge courses provide facilities of accelerated learning through condensed courses to prepare the dropped out and never enrolled children of the older age group to get mainstreamed in regular schools. Accelerated learning facilities to acquire academic skills within shortest possible time, condensed text books with lots of exercises, strong collaboration with regular schools and regular monitoring and evaluations are some of the strategies adopted to run the bridge courses so that the children are able to prepare themselves for mainstreaming as per their age. The objectives of this short term courses are habit formation and learning and practicing basic skills in language, mathematics and science.
To the utter dismay of local people, especially tribals, crores of money has been swindled by the corrupt officials of the SSA unit of Rayagada to keep the education scenario perennially dark. One such incident has come to notice in case of bridge courses run by the SSA. In 2011-12, residential bridge courses started in all the eleven blocks of the district where 1,603 dropouts and never enrolled students got admitted. The duration of the course was six months and per student expenditure granted by the School and Mass Education department was Rs 10,000. In many schools, forged documents were prepared even if there were no students admitted. One such school is Matikona and another school is in Bada Alubadi. Out of a total budget of Rs1, 60, 30,000, around Rs 60 lakh has been misappropriated according to a crude estimate which is only the tip of an iceberg. While there is no electricity in many schools, in the name of Computer Aided learning (CAl), a lot of public money is wasted. Minting money through construction of civil structures is yet another means to keep the district perpetually illiterate.
The present District Project Coordinator of SSA said that he was new to the department and was yet to assess the situation. If he is to be believed then his predecessor has to be taken to task. The Vigilance sleuths are having an enquiry to unearth the huge corruption by a racket of officials presently working in the department and some others who are transferred to other departments in coveted positions with protection from local high profile politicians. A high level enquiry will bring out whole nexus of individuals involved in this mammoth corruption, say the local denizens.