Hyderabad, Aug. 31: Standards of primary school education in the state are coming down if latest figures are any indication. Andhra Pradesh stood 21 among 33 states and union territories in the latest mid-term national survey conducted by National Council of Educational Research Training on education standards of class V students.
The state was in the 18th place last year and has slid further down despite spending crores of rupees for improving standards under the "Sarva Siksha Abhiyan". The survey covered 3,756 students, 468 teachers and 306 schools across 11 districts in the state.
The average comprehension of students in English and mathematics had come down to 35.59 per cent and 32.06 per cent respectively, which is much below the national average of 45.27 per cent and 38.2 per cent. Mr Rafat Ali, special project director of SSA, said the state had slid down because the survey was conducted in a scientific manner when compared to previous years.
"We are taking all the corrective measures to improve our position next year," he added. And now, fund shortage too The Centre has become cautious in releasing funds for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan in the state after a major scam was unearthed in April 2007. It was discovered that a group of officials had misappropriated nearly Rs 14 crore meant for SSA.
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olted by this revelation, the Centre has released only Rs 150 crore to the state for SSA citing poor auditing of funds. The state had asked for Rs 1,200 crore. This has resulted in severe shortage of funds to carry out various academic activities such as training teachers, building new schools and additional classrooms. Last year, though the Centre approved an action plan for Rs 1,246 crore, it released just Rs 432 crore, following reports of embezzlement of funds.
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