Dotasra calls 8 lakh drop in school enrolment ‘biggest scam’ of BJP govt, seeks probe

Jaipur: Congress state president and former education minister Govind Singh Dotasra, Wednesday, termed the sharp decline in school enrolment under the Bhajan Lal Sharma govt ‘one of the biggest scams’ and demanded a thorough probe into the disappearance of over 8 lakh students from the state’s schools in the past two academic years.Speaking to TOI, Dotasra questioned the reasons behind the fall in enrolment and accused the state govt of failing to explain where the students had gone.“Where have these 8.4 lakh students disappeared? This is not just a decline in enrolment; it is one of the biggest scams of the Bhajan Lal Sharma govt and deserves a thorough investigation,” he said.Comparing the figures with his tenure as education minister, Dotasra said school enrolment remained above 1.74 crore during the previous Congress govt.

According to him, enrolment stood at 1.74 crore in 2018-19, increased to 1.79 crore in 2019-20, remained at 1.78 crore in 2020-21, was 1.76 crore in 2021-22 despite the Covid-19 pandemic, and rose to 1.77 crore in 2022-23.He claimed enrolment increased further during the 2023-24 admission cycle while the Congress was in power but fell to 1.67 crore after the BJP assumed office in Dec 2023 and has continued to decline since.Escalating his criticism, Dotasra described Education Minister Madan Dilawar as ‘the biggest failure in Rajasthan’s history’, alleging that his ‘incompetence and inefficiency’ were responsible for the decline in school enrolment.