Bhopal, May 10 (IANS) Former Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Ajay Singh on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the Madhya Pradesh government, citing the latest NITI Aayog report as evidence of the deteriorating condition of the state’s education system.

Speaking in Bhopal, Singh said the findings exposed the hollowness of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s claims of “Abhyuday Madhya Pradesh”.

Describing the situation as alarming, he said that in the era of Digital India, nearly 13,500 schools in Madhya Pradesh were still functioning without electricity, leaving classrooms literally in darkness.

Singh also expressed concern over the lack of basic facilities in schools, stating that nearly 2,000 schools in the state did not have toilets for girl students.

He said the situation exposed the gap between the government’s slogans such as “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” and “Nari Vandan” and the actual condition on the ground.

Questioning the state government’s priorities, Singh asked how young girls were expected to continue their education without access to basic facilities.

Referring to the findings of the report, the Congress leader said the state was also facing a severe shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff.

According to him, more than 52,000 posts were lying vacant in schools across the state, including over 45,000 teaching positions in primary schools.

He further alleged that more than 7,000 schools in Madhya Pradesh were functioning with only one teacher.

Singh demanded accountability from the government and questioned where the large allocation for the education sector was being spent when schools continued to remain understaffed and under-equipped.

The report, he claimed, also revealed that around 3.37 lakh children had dropped out of primary education midway, which he termed a direct consequence of poor infrastructure and inadequate facilities.

At the secondary level, the dropout rate stood at 17 per cent, which, according to Singh, reflected the government’s failure to generate genuine interest in education among students.

He further said that while several smaller states and Union Territories were providing computer education facilities to almost all students, around 40 per cent of schools in Madhya Pradesh did not even have a single computer.

Calling the NITI Aayog report a mirror to the government’s misplaced priorities, Singh accused the administration of focusing on publicity surrounding Sandipani schools while ignoring the ground reality in government-run institutions.

He demanded that Chief Minister Mohan Yadav take the report seriously, explain the situation to the people and move beyond “event management” to implement concrete measures for improving infrastructure and filling vacant teaching posts.

–IANS

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