Skip to main content

10,000 Gujarat schools face closure as $500 million WB loan sought to 'improve' quality

By Our Representative 

Will the World Bank’s proposed loan to the tune of 500 million dollars to the Government of Gujarat, under an education project called Gujarat Outcomes for Accelerated Learning (GOAL) programme, lead to the neglect of 32,000 primary schools across the State? It would seem to if a consultation, organised by the advocacy group Right to Education (RTE), Forum, Gujarat, is any indication.
Participants, including economists Indira Hirway and Hemant Shah, education activsit Sukhdev Patel, data analyst Mahendra Jethmalani, and minority rights leader Mujahid Nafees, among others, agreed that the whole focus of the loan is on “developing 6,000 schools on the basis of performance”.
They pointed out, the project was quite in line with the State government seeking to emphasise on quality education through its Gunotsav education programme instead of simultaneously focusing on providing education to all. “The result”, said Nafees, a key speaker, “Is that nearly 10,000 schools are on the verge of closure in the name of merger.”
Warning that the World Bank project would not improve the condition of education in Gujarat, the participants, particularly academics, said, the six-year project which would end in 2027, with the State government spending another Rs 1,308 crore, would also put a huge strain on the State finances.
The 78-page document does not state whether the World Bank amount is a loan or a grant. If it is a loan, the State government will have to pay interest at the rate of 9.2 percent. The current year's budget of the Gujarat government is Rs 2.24 lakh crore. The total expenditure on education is Rs 32,700 crore. In that sense, the seven-year loan amount is negligible. Hence, there is no need for a World Bank loan, it was pointed out.
Activists said, the World Bank project talks about “big results” by supporting the government to set up 34 schools having a capacity of 3,000 students in tribal areas, but what about other schools? The Right to Education (RTE) Act is is mentioned only once in the project document, one of them alleged, adding, the big question is whether RTE will be maintained.
There is no mention in the project document as to how any comprehensive improvement in the condition of primary or secondary education in Gujarat would be brought about”, said an activist, adding, there is no mention of recruiting ‘missing teachers’ either. The only emphasis is on developing what are called 6,000 lighthouse schools in six years, even as neglecting the remaining schools.
The project says that it will benefit 47 lakh children. Are 47 lakh students studying in 6000 schools in Gujarat?, wondered an activist.

Comments

TRENDING

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Victim of communal violence, Christians in Manipur want Church leadership to speak up

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  The first eleven days of May 2023 have, in many ways, been a defining period of Indian history! Plenty has happened in a rapid-fire stream of events. Ironically, each one of them are indicators of how crimes and the criminalisation of society has become the ‘new norm’; these include, the May Day rallies with a focus on the four labour codes which are patently against the rights of workers; the U S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report on 1 May stating that conditions for religious freedom in India “continued to worsen in 2022”; the continued protest by the Indian women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar for the expulsion of the chief of the Indian Wrestlers Federation on very serious allegations; the Elections in Karnataka on 10 May (with communalism and corruption as the mainstay); the release of the fake, derogative and insensitive film ‘The Kerala Story’; the release of World Free Press Index on 3 May which places India

Polygamy in India "down" in 45 yrs: Muslims' from 5.7 to 2.55%, Hindus' 5.8 to 1.77%, "common" in SCs, STs

By Rajiv Shah Amidst All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) justifying polygamy, saying it “meets social and moral needs and the provision for it stems from concern and sympathy for women”, facts suggest the the practice is down from 5.7 per cent of Muslim families in 1961 to 2.55 per cent in 2006.

India joining US sponsored trade pillar to hurt Indian farmers, 'promote' GM seeds, food

Counterview Desk  As many as 32 civil society organisations (CSOs), in a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and India joining the trade pillar, have said that its provisions will allow the US to ensure a more favourable regulatory regime “for enhancing its exports of genetically modified (GM) seeds and GM food”, underlining, it will “significantly hurt the livelihoods of Indian farmers.”

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Modi govt 'wholly untrustworthy' on Covid data, censored criticism on pandemic: Lancet

By Rajiv Shah*   One of the world’s most prestigious health journals, brought out from England, has sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government for being “wholly untrustworthy on Covid-19 health data”, stating, the “official government figures place deaths at more than 530 000, while WHO excess death estimates for 2020 and 2021 are near 4·7 million.”

Undermining law, breastfeeding? Businesses 'using' celebrities to promote baby food

By Rajiv Shah*  A report prepared by the top child welfare NGO, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), has identified as many as 15 offenders allegedly violating the Indian baby food law, the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992, and Amendment Act 2003 (IMS Act), stating, compliance with the law “seems to be dwindling by the day.”

Delhi demolitions for G-20 summit: Whither sabka saath, sabka vikas?, asks NAPM

By Our Representative  Well-known civil rights network, National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), even as expressing solidarity with “thousands of traumatized residents of Tughlakabad and some other bastis in New Delhi whose homes have been demolished and whose lives have been ravaged both prior to as well as in the lead-up to the G-20 Summit”, has said this is in utter disregard to “their minimum well-being and gross violation of their rights.”