November 23, 2019
Bangla slams Centre over pending Sarva Siksha Abhiyan funds
In yet another instance of the Centre neglecting Bangla, the State Education Department has alleged that the funds for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) are long-pending from the Centre. The State Education Department has said that the Union Ministry of Human Resources Department owes Bangla funds for paying the salaries of primary and upper-primary teachers.
The net amount the Centre owes the State in this regard is Rs 3,340 crore. As per the 2009 Right to Education Act, the teacher-student ratio at primary and upper-primary level should be 1:30 and 1:35 respectively. To adhere to these rules, the State Government had appointed additional teachers under SSA between 2015-16 and 2017-18. The State bears 60 per cent of the cost of implementing SSA. Rest is borne by the Centre. However, the Centre has not yet paid the funds for salaries of the teachers.
The Chief Minister had written to the Prime Minister in this regard, but no action has been taken so far.
