Gandhinagar, Aug 12 (IANS): Congress on Monday attacked the Gujarat government over an alleged scam in the education sector, saying that those teachers who are residing abroad continue to receive salaries from the government.

“The government has turned a blind eye to a significant scam in the education sector. The school teachers who are residing abroad (US and Canada) continue to receive salaries,” said Congress Spokesperson Manish Doshi.

He said that the Education Department has failed to take action against these teachers even though a state-of-the-art real-time online monitoring system at the Vidya Samiksha Kendra in Gandhinagar was supposed to track teacher attendance daily.

“The Centre which provides continuous data to the Chief Minister’s dashboard, appears to have ignored certain teachers’ persistent absenteeism, raising questions about the system’s effectiveness,” said Doshi.

He added that despite implementing a comprehensive digital monitoring system, the Education Department remains unaware or indifferent to the problem of absent teachers.

He also pointed out that many teachers have been absent from their duties for long periods, taking advantage of loopholes in the system to live abroad while their salaries continue to be paid.

He also highlighted that the Vidya Samiksha Kendra, which boasts the country’s first command and control centre for education, was established in 2019 to monitor educational activities across the state.

“The system has not effectively curbed absenteeism, with over 40,000 teaching positions currently vacant while the remaining teachers are burdened with additional non-teaching duties,” the Congress Spokesperson said.

He also expressed concern over the impact on students, particularly those in rural areas, where the absence of teachers severely affects the education of children from lower-income families.