Claim Check: 13,000 government schools shut in Gujarat
Rahul Gandhi says 13,000 government schools have been shut in Gujarat
Claim: 13,000 government schools have been shut in Gujarat.
Who: Congress party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Where: At a rally in Bardoli, Gujarat, on 8 February.
Check: He is wrong.
District-level school statistics show the number of elementary* schools in Gujarat has actually increased from 40,943 in 2011-12 to 42,745 by September 2012.
It would appear that the claim is based on a resolution passed by the state government’s education department on 9 June 2011, that suggests that 13,450 primary schools with a class strength of less than 100 students be merged with the nearest bigger schools keeping in mind the Right to Education Act that states provision of a school within a radius of 1km (for Classes I-V) and 3km (for Classes VI-VIII). Of these, there are 6,826 primary schools that have less than 50 students.
The resolution cites lack of adequate students, lower staff strength and financial unavailability for running these schools. It directs all district education officers, city education committees and
zila panchayats to make note of such schools with less than 100 students. Merging these schools with more successful government schools in the neighbourhood would provide for better infrastructure, better education and save on costs, the circular from the state’s education department (in Gujarati) said.
Source:
District Information System for Education ( DISE ), Gujarat education department resolution
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Claim Check: Rahul Gandhi on the number of information commissioners in Gujarat
Rahul Gandhi says there is only one right to information commissioner in Gujarat when there should be 10
What: There is only one right to information commissioner in Gujarat when there should be 10.
Who: Rahul Gandhi, vice-president of the Congress party that leads the ruling United Progressive Alliance.
Where: At a farmer’s rally in Bardoli in Gujarat on 8 February.
Check: He is wrong.
There are three right to information commissioners in Gujarat. They are D. Rajagopalan, chief information commissioner and former chief secretary of the Gujarat government, Balwant Singh and V.S. Gadhavi, information commissioners. India’s government transparency law says that there should be a maximum of 10 information commissioners in a state but does not stipulate a minimum number.
Source: Gujarat information commission, RTI Act
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Claim Check: Narendra Modi on poor school infrastructure in West Bengal
Modi says only 35% schools in West Bengal have electricity and only 60% girls’ schools have toilets
Claim: Only 35% schools in West Bengal have electricity and only 60% girls’ schools have toilets.
Who: Narendra Modi, Gujarat chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate.
Where: At a public meeting in Kolkata on 5 February.
Check: He is correct, based on publicly available data.
According to statistics collected under a human resource development ministry programme, 35.48% of West Bengal schools have electricity; and only 59.3% have a functional girls’ toilets (data is from 2011-12).
More recent data from the Annual Status of Education Report (Aser) only has information on toilets in rural schools. It says 53.7% of schools (in villages) in West Bengal have functional girls’ toilets.
To be sure, this has been contested by the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government, which claimed that all schools had electricity and 82.8% had a functional toilet for girls. These figures are being displayed on the state government’s school education department site. Mint could not independently verify these numbers.
Source: District information system on education, 2011-12; Annual Status of Education Report 2013; West Bengal school education department website
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