VEC: No selection criteria stated

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Sept. 29: The formation of a five-member committee to monitor the village education committee (VEC) has been stalled in many gram panchayats owing to lack specific criteria for selecting members.

The government had issued an order to form VEC and the monitoring committee by September this year after introducing new system of formation of the VEC following delimitation, district education officials said.

The objective of the new VEC is to start a ‘social audit’ system for proper utilisation of funds and to check corruption within the limited member of the VEC.

According to education officials, owing to the on going process to form a gram sansad after panchayat election, the process to constitute VEC suffered a setback in many blocks. The government has directed that other than the head master of a primary school and member of a gram panchayat, all guardians of children from 5 to 14 year of age would be inducted as the member of VEC.

“The pradhan has been assigned to constitute a monitoring committee members of which would be from the guardians. But the panchayat has been facing problem to select five men since many of them want to be the member of the committee,” the district project officer of SSM (Sarba Shikhsha Mission), Mr Chinmay Sarkar said.

The objective of this new system is to inform all local residents about the allotment of funds from the Sarba Shiksha Mission (SSM) for the development of education system, construction of school and other purposes.

“After execution of delimitation the total number of VEC in this district has been reduced from 2019 to 1468,” said Mr Chinmay Sarkar, the district project officer, SSM. The government had directed to dissolve the old VEC and to form new VEC inducting an elected member of gram panchayat as president of the VEC.

The headmaster of a primary school would be functioning as secretary of the VEC. The government has also instructed to induct an engineer of the SSM project as coordinator.

The three key members (panchayat nominee, headmaster and engineer) would be entitled to deal with the financial transaction from bank and utilise funds allotted from the SSM for the development of primary schools. The government has directed to close the bank account of the old VEC and transfer the unutilised fund to the new VEC's account. According to government's decision, VEC members would be meeting every six months to make an audit report of the funds. The monitoring committee would table accounts and utilisation reports of funds before the VEC.