Patna, March 24: Patna High Court today directed the Bihar government to present a report on steps taken to educate Dalit children (aged between six and 14 years) under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme, funded mainly by the Centre.

A division bench of acting Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad and Justice J.N. Singh has asked the government to file an affidavit on the matter within two weeks from today.

According to a rough estimate, there are some 20-lakh Dalit children in Bihar who are not enrolled in schools despite the SSA scheme. In every state, the government is the SSA executive agency.

The high court was responding to a petition filed by the Council for Protection of Public Rights and Welfare that had filed a petition on January 8, 2008. Talking to The Telegraph, the council’s general secretary and senior high court advocate, M.P. Gupta, conceded that the court has ordered the state government to file a report in this regard. Gupta added that the court has sought the mention of “specific” steps, projects and schemes that have been completed or are being taken — to educate the target group.

The court has also asked the government to specify the amount spent on the scheme.

On February 8, 2008, the court had asked the government to file an affidavit on the same matter. Today’s order was a repeat, to seek compliance from the government, being represented by additional advocate-general S.K. Ghosh.

“We drew the court’s attention through our petition on the pathetic state of primary and secondary education in Bihar. There are places in Patna where schools are being run in the open and in some cases, three to four schools are being run from the same building,” Gupta added.