ITANAGAR, 22 Jun: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Tuesday approved an ambitious plan of the state government to completely overhaul the education system in the state, right from the infrastructure of schools to evaluation, promotion, motivation and transfer and posting of teachers through technological interventions.
‘Mission Shiksa’, which is in the conceptual stage at the moment, is a roadmap highlighting the lacunae that are eating into the education system and the needed government interventions. It also brings into picture psychological aspects of the teachers, students and administrators that dampen the morale of both teachers and students in different ways.
Its vision is to ‘provide good quality education to the students in an improved educational environment, and uplifting the morale of teachers’.
As per the central government’s performance grading index (PGI), Arunachal ranks amongst the lowest in the country, which the mission aims to uplift.
Khandu suggested identifying one school with high enrollment in each assembly constituency and completely overhauling it with technological and digital interventions.
“After the district administrations identify one school each in the 60 assembly constituencies, a technical team from the education department will physically visit and assess these schools and recommend what interventions are required,” he said.
Khandu also recommended that the entire state be divided into three zones – east, west and central – and that each zone be assigned to an independent agency to study and lay out parameters and evaluate the performance of teachers as well as students as per the PGI.
The chief minister directed the education department to “bring the concept of ‘Mission Shiksha’ to a practical mode and submit to the government in the next meeting what and how the department will implement the mission in a time-bound manner in detail.”
The roadmap focuses on early childhood care and education, live classes through a two-way system using VSATs, construction of teachers’ quarters, closing down of zero enrollment schools (so far 372 such schools have been closed down), concentration on high enrollment schools, evaluation of performance of both teachers and students, one-to-one yearly training of teachers, strengthening of DIETs and the SCERT, etc.
It also envisages digital and transparent transfer and posting of teachers through a software-based system, which is in the making and is expected to be ready within the next few months.
Education Minister Taba Tedir, the chief secretary, the education secretary, and other top officials of the education department were present at the meeting. (CM’s PR Cell)
