Fake enrolments turn Nitish's free education scheme into a multi-crore scam-

Fake enrolments turn Nitish's free education scheme into a multi-crore scam

Prabhakar Kumar, CNN-IBN


Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's much lauded free education scheme has allegedly turned into a multi-crore scam with over 3 lakh fake student enrolments come to light.

The case came to light when most of the students were found to have been enrolled in several schools simultaneously. In fact a few were enrolled in government schools but were found to be studying at private schools.

According to Bihar government's own data 70,000 fake enrolments of students has been found in Banka district itself. An Education Department exercise underway to identify ghost admissions has revealed 3,36,000 fake enrolments from nine out of the 38 districts in Bihar.

Huge sums of money have allegedly been siphoned off to avail benefits like free uniform, bicycle, mid-day meal and scholarships.

"This case has come to light. I have ordered an investigation into the entire issue," said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The alleged scam has severely hit the image of a resurgent Bihar under Nitish Kumar.

The Opposition is already breathing fire alleging that the Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party government fudged the figures of student enrolment ratio to win national awards.

"There should be an impartial enquiry into the entire incident in entire Bihar. The case should be handed over to the CBI. Several people are involved in this scam and thousands of crores have been embezzled," alleged Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Ram Kripal Yadav.

Nitish Kumar government's problem has been compounded by the fact that the entire data related to the enrolment of students is documented. The documents have revealed that some students have been shown to be enrolled in three or four schools.

Several students studying in private schools have been shown to be enrolled in government schools while many other students have already passed out.

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