This request was made by Minister for School and Mass Education Seikh Matlub Ali at Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday to depute a team to Orissa to extend expert guidance on DPEP.

According to School and Mass Education Department sources, the team has gone to Kerala to study the DPEP in that State which has helped the Kerala Government in a big way in increasing the literacy rate. The team would also study various aspects of the programme being successfully implemented in Kerala and replicate them in Orissa, sources added.

Sources further said that the delegation collected information on related infrastructure developmental works of the schools. The team was also explained by officials of the Kerala education department on different aspects andprocedures of the programme.

DPEP was launched in Orissa in its second phase in five districts - Bolangir, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Kalahandi and Rayagada - during 1996. The State Government subsequently added three more districts - Keonjhar, Sambalpur and Bargarh.

However, the programme could not achieve the desired results in Orissa due to gross mismanagement by the School and Mass Education Department. There were also a number of allegations regarding large-scale corruption in DPEP by officials working in the project.

Moreover, a huge amount of funds sanctioned by the Central Government for carrying-out of DPEP could not be spent properly for which the plan expenditure had reportedly been reduced on earlier occasions. A large number of community mobilisation and civil works have been lagging behind in the eight districts where DPEP is currently in progress.