Paromita Sengupta with bureau inputs
ODISHA
Bhubaneswar, june 3. The Kendrapara district administration has set a target to revamp 500 government primary schools in the district by end 2021.
“So far, 60 primary and upper primary schools in the district have been given a facelift. The focus is on upgrading their infrastructure with good quality benches, desks, toilets among other facilities. To this end funds have been allocated to panchayats,” said Kendrapara collector Amrit Ruturaj, addressing a press conference.
Leveraging the Building As Learning Aid (BALA) concept to enable qualitative improvement in education, the district administration is currently upgrading school premises, classrooms, walls and corridors with paintings related to math, geography and science. It is also planning to introduce computer literacy for class IV-V students and installing digital education equipment, he added.
GUJARAT
Real-time command centre
Ahmedabad, June 10. Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani inaugurated the country’s first real-time command-and-control centre in Gandhinagar to monitor the activities of over 54,000 government schools statewide. Through this control centre, education ministry officials can track implementation of various schemes and initiatives such as home learning and periodic assessment, launched by the state government to improve the quality of education.
Inaugurating the centre’s ‘video wall’ feature, the chief minister held a brief discussion with some field staff of the education ministry and received feedback about a project, and also spoke to a primary school teacher in Anand district.
Apart from monitoring teachers’ and students’ attendance in all government schools statewide, the command centre also provides miscellaneous district and other data.
UTTAR PRADSH
RTE Act notices
Noida (uttar pradesh), june 4. Thirty-three private schools in Noida and Greater Noida have been issued show-cause notices for alleged irregularities in connection with admission of children from economically-weaker sections under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. Under s.12 (1) (c) of the Act, private unaided schools are obliged to reserve 25 percent capacity in classes I-VIII for poor children in their neighbourhood and provide them free-of-charge education.
“These schools have allocated lesser number of seats to s.12 (1) (c) children than in the previous year,” said Sanjay Kumar Upadhyay, principal, District Institute for Education and Training (DIET).
The schools issued notices have been asked to provide proof of total capacity in classes I-VIII, he added.
LADAKH
Online education initiative
Leh, june 4. Ladakh’s Lieutenant Governor Radha Krishna Mathur launched the YounTab digital tablets distribution scheme for government school children to enable them to access online classes, said an official spokesperson addressing the media.
Under the scheme, 12,300 tablets with pre-loaded online and offline content, including textbooks, video lectures and online class applications, will be distributed free-of-charge to classes VI-XII government school students in Leh, said Ajeet Kumar Sahu, commissioner secretary of school education.
The distribution of tablets will be completed over the next two months, the spokesman said. “An assurance has also come from telecom companies about installing additional towers to enhance Internet connectivity,” he added.
PUNJAB
New medical colleges
Mohali, june 9. The Punjab government will establish four new government medical colleges in Mohali, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Malerkotla at an estimated cost of Rs.1,500 crore, said medical education and research minister O.P. Soni, addressing a press conference.
The announcement came after the minister inaugurated a boundary wall of the Dr. B.R Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, Mohali. “Land has been made available for all medical colleges. But Dr. B.R. Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences in Mohali is expected to become operational first, since there is an existing 300-bed hospital which needs to be upgraded for attachment to the medical college,” he said.
DELHI
Private school take-over
New delhi, june 26. Based on the report of a committee of inquiry constituted to probe parents’ complaints against the Swami Sivanand Memorial Secondary School, Punjabi Bagh arbitrarily raising fees, the Delhi state government has decided to take over management of this private school.
“Considering the inadequacies and complaints which were found to be correct, the Delhi government has decided to initiate the process of taking over management of the school under provisions of the Delhi School Education Act of 1973,” says an official statement issued by the Delhi state government.
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