CAG slams state of higher education

BHUBANESWAR: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has slammed the state of higher education in Odisha in its recent report tabled in the assembly on Thursday.
The report said gross enrolment ratio (GER) of 22.1% in Odisha between 2014 and 2019 is below the national average of 26.30%. It slammed the state government for not devising specific plan to improve the ratio.
Despite SC/ST population comprising around 40% of the state’s total population, the report said the GER and gender parity index of SC/ST categories remained below the national average.
Even as the state government has established the Odisha State Higher Education Council to promote higher education and research in the state through planning and reforms, the CAG said objective of the council remained largely unfulfilled as the body has not prepared any plan.
The CAG also pointed out poor functioning of career counselling cells in Utkal University (UU), North Odisha University (NOU) and 32 known degree colleges. It said there was less than optimal functioning or complete absence of placement and career counselling cells and job fairs in these institutions while amount released to organize the job fair remained unutilized.
On an average 26.10% students of UU and 3.79% students of NOU could get placements through placements cells/job fairs between 2014 and 2019. UU and NOU had facilitated placement of 1,089 and 70 students, respectively, through job fairs during the period, said the CAG in its report.
The percentage of students who qualified in different competitive examinations in UU ranged between 2.23% and 27.10% from 2014-19, except in 2015-16, when it was 40.19%. In NOU, the percentage of students who qualified in competitive examinations ranged between 3.50 and 7.72% during this period.
The CAG has criticised various government departments for not submitting utilization certificates (UC). In its report on state finances, the CAG said UCs for amount aggregating Rs 36,193 crore remained outstanding against 36 government departments as of March 2020 since 2003-04 onwards.
During 2019-20, government released Rs 28,465 crore as grants-in-aid to various agencies. Out of this, UCs were not received in respect of Rs 16,301 crore (57.27%). There is, therefore, no assurance that expenditure of Rs 16,301 crore had actually been incurred for the purposes for which it was authorised, said the report. The report said even as Odisha has fared favourably in its focus on development expenditure, social sector spending and capital expenditure during 2019-20 vis-à-vis general category had lesser spending in areas of education and healthcare.
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