Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan-I

The schools have been renovated. Every primary school in UP wears a fresh coat of white wash, a green band running through the middle indicates that this is a primary school (Red band indicates middle school), and construction activities are frenzied. Each school now has ample classrooms. In the school that we visited there were 8 rooms: 5 classrooms, 1 office, and 1 Aanganwadi. Classrooms are bare; there are no teaching aids, and children sit on the floor. Now, funds have been provided for purchasing desks but only 10 at a time.
On one wall, the mid-day meal scheme is enumerated. The scheme is lavish and provides wholesome nutrition. On Monday the children would be given roti, vegetable, and soybean. On Tuesday they would be provided rice and dal. And so on. If prepared. There are hurdles. The gram panchayat secretary is the signatory. He/she might not be available to sign the documents. He/she has to send the utilization certificate to the government and might not have done it. The grains and money might not have come from the government. So, there are schools where the scheme does not run.
And in schools where the scheme does run, parents complain that the children are provided kichdi every day.
"And it is unpalatable," the women complained.
Only two teachers are appointed per primary school. To compensate Shiksha Mitra have been appointed. It does not matter. Teachers do not teach. They have government duties to do: Pulse polio campaign, election duty, census taking, collecting statistics for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and so on and so forth.