Single Tender for Book Work: Minister

A meeting of the Education Department was held on Friday at the Ministry Mahanadi Bhawan in Nava Raipur under the chairmanship of School Education, Village Industries, Law and Legislative Affairs Minister Gajendra Yadav. While reviewing the departmental works in the meeting, Minister Yadav gave clear instructions that a concrete action plan should be prepared to strengthen the education system and ensure quality education. In the meeting, he said that the Textbook Corporation should do everything from printing of books to transportation through a single tender so that time and money is saved. Secretary Siddharth Komal Singh Pardeshi, Director Public Education Rituraj Raghuvanshi, MD Samagra Shiksha Sanjeev Kumar Jha and departmental officials were present in the meeting.

The issue of removing the shortage of teachers was first discussed in the meeting. Minister Yadav directed the officials to start the recruitment process of 5000 teachers before the upcoming academic session. He also said that the attendance of teachers and district level officials should be mandatorily recorded online and at the campus level, so that transparency and accountability can be ensured.

In the meeting, the minister said that the gazetted officers will be recruited through the Public Service Commission (PSC). While reviewing the progress of textbook distribution, Minister Yadav said that it should be clarified that at how many places book distribution is still pending and how much additional demand is left. He said that there should be clarity in departmental work and every work should be done through its responsible institution only. All training programs will now be compulsorily conducted through SCERT.

In the meeting, there was a detailed discussion on the status of schools without buildings, the expenditure required to develop them as fully furnished schools and the amount of ad hoc schools. Minister Shri Yadav said that an action plan should be prepared from now on to ensure full utilization of the budget and the amount does not lapse.

In big cities where government buildings are available, it was also considered to start classes in collaboration with reputed coaching institutes for the preparation of competitive examinations like NEET and JEE. Emphasis was laid on running a special campaign to reconnect school leavers with schools.

Minister Yadav said that timely action should be ensured by preparing an advance action plan for the materials to be distributed to the students at the time of Shala Pravesh Utsav. After the school examinations are over, district and block level training of teachers will be started. After the training, the efficiency of teachers will be evaluated by taking an examination. For this, a clear academic calendar will be prepared and DIET/BIET will be strengthened. Minister Gajendra Yadav said at the end of the meeting that all the schemes and programs of the Education Department should be implemented in a timely and transparent manner. He said that quality education is the top priority of the state government and for this all officers should work responsibly.