The basic unit of administration above the village level in A.P is the Mandal, which covers a population of around 35-40 thousands. In each Mandal on an average there are 5000 children of school going age (5-14 yrs) in school and 5000 out of school.
In MVF’s experience the cost of sending 5000 children to school over a 5-year period and retaining them there is around Rs.40 lakhs per year or Rs.200 lakhs over a period of 5 years. This works out to Rs.800 per year per child. The total cost of covering all the roughly 1200 Mandals would therefore be Rs.2400 crores.
This does not include the cost of setting up new schools and providing additional teachers, which will have to be borne by the government. It however covers all costs of mobilisation including education volunteers.
The above costing also does not take into account the fact that once a critical mass of children is covered all over the state it may not be necessary to indulge in such intensive mobilization. The costs therefore, once a critical point is reached, are likely to be much less.
