Nirupam demands white paper on BMC-run schools

Mumbai, Aug 29 (PTI) Slamming the Shiv Sena-BJP ruledBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for passing a proposal tomake yoga and surya namaskar mandatory in schools, Congressleader Sanjay Nirupam today said the civic body should focuson improving its "deteriorating" quality of education. He also demanded a white paper on the BMC-run schoolsand alleged drop out rate of students has increased and newenrolments in these schools have dwindled. "Shiv Sena-BJP led BMC has spent over Rs 14,000 crorein the last five years on education, but the grim reality isthat the quality of education has deteriorated considerablyand there has been significant rise in students’ drop-outrate," Nirupam said in a press conference here. Citing the data compiled by Praja, an NGO, the cityCongress chief said, "There has been a decline in all theaspects regarding the BMC-run schools. If we compare the2012-13 data with that of 2015-16, we find that not only thestudents, but the number of teachers and schools of all medium– Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu and Marathi– have gone downdrastically." "In 2012-13, there were 81,216 students in 385 Marathimedium schools with 3,873 teachers. But this figure has gonedown and in 2015-16, there were only 59,802 students in 357Marathi medium schools with 2,831 teachers," he said, addingthat the scenario was similar in schools of other medium. He also said that BMC, with its average annual budgetof Rs 2,400 crore on education, spends Rs 50,524 on eachstudent every year. "However, the quality of education as well as numbersof school inspectors has really deteriorated considerably," healleged. "Number of school inspectors has gone down by 38 percent over the years and the drop-out rate in civic schools hasgone upto 13 per cent. There has been a steep decline by 38per cent in the enrolment of the students," he said. "The Sena-BJP ruled BMC should first improve thequality of the education in its schools and not play politicsby imposing surya namaskar and yoga, ahead of the 2017 civicelections," the Congress leader said. The basic facilities in these schools is pathetic.There is no electricity in many schools, toilets are in amiserable state, there is shortage of teachers, and so manyissues, he said adding, "Hence I demand Sena-BJP to come outwith a white paper on the issue." Nirupam argued that if surya namaskar and yoga weremade mandatory in the civic schools, the students drop outrate would rise. "I do yoga regularly, but I don’t favour imposing itif someone finds something objectionable in it," he added.PTI APM NP SRYPTP