New report recommends opening more SC development offices in Kerala

Noting low enrolment, P&ARD report also recommends discontinuation of inessential nursery schools run by SC Development department

A new government report has suggested opening 21 more Scheduled Caste (SC) development offices and, among other things, limiting nursery schools run by the Scheduled Caste Development department to absolutely essential locations across Kerala.

The recommendations are the outcome of a study by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms department (P&ARD) for equipping the SC Development department to provide better services to the target communities.

The report advocates a detailed study on the 87 nursery schools run by the SC Development department, citing three specific reasons; the low enrolment rate, better pre-primary education offered by anganwadis under the Women and Child Development department, and the argument that running nursery schools exclusively for scheduled caste communities could plant notions of caste in young minds and the feeling that they are discriminated against.

At present, admission is open to 30 children in each nursery school under the SC Development department operating in the LKG/UKG format. But enrolment is quite low. At the same time, anganwadis run by the Women and Child Development department are attracting students with better infrastructure and curriculum. This scenario calls for a detailed study so that the nurseries are limited to essential locations, while others are discontinued, the report said.

A major recommendation in the report concerns new SC development offices, noting that the current numbers are inadequate for providing services in an efficient manner. The report has suggested opening 21 new offices, including two each in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Malappuram, and Kozhikode, four each in Kannur and Palakkad, and one each in Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Idukki and Kasaragod districts.

Inadequate to meet the needs

The basis of the P&ARD study was a set of proposals by the Director, SC Development department, in April 2022, for increasing the number of posts and SC development offices on the grounds that existing offices and number of posts were inadequate to meet the needs of the SC communities.

SC development offices coordinate the department’s activities in blocks, corporations, and municipalities. As much as 64% of the plan fund allocation to the SC Development department is spent through local self government institutions. However, quite a few municipalities and six block panchayats lack SC development offices, according to the P&ARD report. At present, the department has 14 district offices and 170 development offices under it.

Kerala has an SC population of 30.39 lakh, as per the 2011 census, with 57.17% residing in the districts of Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Thrissur, and Malappuram. The P&RD report, citing the 2011 census, notes that literacy rate among SC communities in Kerala is 88.70%, compared to 66.07% at the national level. “Although employment and social opportunities for the SC communities are relatively better in Kerala, the services that are on offer to fully integrate them into the mainstream needs improvement,” the report said.

It recommended improving the infrastructure and services offered by Model Residential Schools, pre-matric and post-matric hostels and Industrial Training Institutes under the SC Development department.

The P&ARD study also suggested that a decentralised mechanism be introduced in the department at the zonal level for effective monitoring of schemes and projects.

Published - September 21, 2024 08:33 pm IST