Patna,(BiharTimes): The number of students in Class I-VIII in government and government-aided schools of Bihar has come down from 2.17 crore earlier to 2.04 crore––a fall of 13 lakh.
This was possible because of the move to link the Aadhaar biometric authentication system with the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. It is a part of the Centre’s decision to link all welfare schemes with Aadhaar card to check leakages.
Official sources said in the case of government schools only, the number of students has dropped from 2.04 crore to 1.99 crore.
According to state project director Sanjay Singh so far Aadhaar registration of nearly 80% school students has been done, but the percentage of those who got their Aadhaar card is still low at around 50%.
Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur have also witnessed fall. More states are likely to come up with their figures.
A few years back Bihar’s effort of high enrolment in schools was widely appreciated. Now it has been realized that crores of rupees have been siphoned off in the name of fake enrolment. A large number of students got double benefits of the government schemes like Mid-Day Meal, uniforms, bi-cycles, scholarships etc.
