Nabarangpur: The government is spending huge amounts under the Centrally-sponsored Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan to promote sports in high, upper and primary schools. Money is also being used to develop and restore playgrounds. However, the objective of the scheme has suffered due to lack of sports and physical education teachers in a large number of schools in Nabarangpur district, sources said. No efforts are being made to fill up the vacant posts of physical education teachers.
Another problem plaguing the scheme is the absence of utilisation certificates for funds provided in 2021-22 and 2022-23. These have not been furnished to the concerned authorities. Sources said that there are 188 high government-run and aided schools in Nabarangpur district. Among them 109 have playgrounds while 79 don’t. However, they have applied for land at their respective tehsil offices. Sources informed that in 2021, there were 163 posts sanctioned for physical education teachers.
Out of them, 125 have been filled up while the remaining posts are still vacant. In 2021-22 and 2022-23, funds have been sanctioned under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan for providing sports kits to schools. However, the block officials have still not provided utilisation certificates to their district-level counterparts for 2021-22 fiscal. In 2021-22, 1,618 primary schools were provided Rs 10,000 each; 185 high schools RS 15,000 each. A total of over Rs 1.53 crore was provided to 1,800 schools in the district to buy sports kits. The same amount has been sanctioned for the 2022-23 fiscal. However, utilisation certificates have not been received by the district administration yet.