A sum of Rs 44.7 million, spent on 10-month teachers’ training over the last three years, has reportedly been wasted, thanks to lack of coordination between government agencies — the National Centre for Education Development (NCED) and the Department of Education. The NCED sanctioned the amount to finance 1,490 fellowships for teachers training people specifically from the disadvantaged communities. But women, Dalits and Janajatis have barely benefited from the scheme as only 200 of those trained since 2004 have managed to get jobs in community-run primary schools. The school authorities have summarily rejected the majority of the trained ones by labelling them incompetent.

This is also a clear case of sheer lack of homework. Had the officials checked on the quality of the training course, better trained persons could have emerged, probably avoiding rejection for teachers’ job. The training that does not meet its objective is training gone to waste. To solve the immediate problem facing the trainees, it is not just enough to direct the District Education Offices to inform community schools to give priority to the disadvantaged groups. The NCED should also give them more training. As a long-term goal, the NCED together with other institutions concerned should work towards making them more competitive. Greater attention should also be paid to strengthening the planning and implementation strategies to ensure proper utilisation of the taxpayers’ money.