Abhishek Prakash, Bhagalpur. Huge irregularities have come to light in the number of students from classes 1 to 8 on two official portals of the District Education Department. While the number of children registered on the MIS portal for Mid-Day Meal (MDM) is 4,06,329, according to the U-DISE portal the number is 3,84,219. The difference of 22,110 children in both the figures raises serious questions on the departmental functioning.
When DPO SSA got information about this, he got the data of both the portals matched. The investigation revealed the shocking truth that the figures of MDM and U-DICE did not match each other. At the same time, reliable sources say that the number of students recorded on the U-DISE portal is real and authentic, whereas the number of children recorded in the MDM portal has been inflated.
It is suspected that the figures have been manipulated somewhere to gain benefits related to MDM. Considering the seriousness of the matter, DPO SSA Babita Kumari has instructed all the block education officers to prepare and provide reports on the basis of actual enrollment in each school of their respective areas.
Along with this, the technical team has also been given the responsibility to clearly investigate at what level this discrepancy in the data occurred. The department has made it clear that if data tampering is confirmed, no person involved will be spared and strict action is certain.