Govt sports scheme for students yet to begin
The clubs and academies didn't provide relevant documentation in support of their claims, CAG found.
NEW DELHI: Despite hosting several international sports events in Delhi, directorate of education (DoE) has not provided free sports coaching for government school students by increasing the number of disciplines offered. As per a circular issued by the DoE on January 21, 2016, the scheme was meant to promote the holistic development of students.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit report stated on December 2015, the government approved a scheme for private sports academies, clubs, individual trainers in training and coaching of government and non-government schools students on 50:50 ratio.
The DoE is implementing this scheme since June 2016. The CAG audit report said the DoE on June 2016 allotted 120 schools to 29 academies, clubs, and individual trainers in 11 sports disciplines. Under the scheme, government school students were to be provided coaching or training free of cost.
However, training and coaching was being provided only in 31 schools by 18 academies, clubs, and individual trainers. The DoE on June 2016 allotted 54 schools to Taekwondo Federation of Delhi, but training is yet to begin.
As per the scheme, desirous academies, clubs, individuals will have to provide training/coaching to 50 per cent students of nearby government schools free of cost and 50 per cent of non-government students on reasonable charges, respectively.
However, the directorate didn’t verify the number of students who benefited from this scheme and rules of providing free of cost coaching to 50 per cent students of government schools was followed by concerned academies. It also didn’t examine whether the fee charged from non-government students was reasonable.
Also, the clubs and academies didn’t provide relevant documentation in support of their claims, the CAG found. The DoE did not assess the reasons for lack of response for upgradation of the sports scheme.
The academies are to submit performance reports on a quarterly basis to DoE, but no reports were found in the records. DoE stated due to non-response from academies, coaching couldn’t be conducted due to a variety of reasons, including lack of space. The Delhi government on October 2017 issued a notice to the Taekwondo Federation of Delhi and action would be taken against the federation after receipt of reply.