Gutsav to boost education: Minister

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Jan 18: The State Education Department is going to start its three-phase Gutsav from March 18 and to continue for three days till March 20 this year so as to take stock of the quality of education being imparted to the students in the State. The exercise is also aimed at grading the students and their schools as well.

The phase 1 of the exercise slated from March 18 to cover 12,000 schools of as many as eights districts – Barpeta, Chirang, Dibrugarh, Hailakandi, Kamrup(M), West Karbi Anglong, Lakhimpur and Morigaon. A meeting on Gutsav was held today at Administrative Staff College in the city.

Sarma said that right from the minister and local MLAs, bureaucrats and others would have to go the field to ascertain the quality of education imparted to the students. “The evaluation will cover both the taught and their schools, including infrastructure. The officials will be equipped a set of question papers comprising 150 marks for the students to respond. The students will have to respond to the questions individually. The scores of each of the students will be sent to their parents so as to let them know the development of their wards,” Sarma said, and added: “The exercise will also grade the schools.”

Sarma said that the next phase would be held in November this year, also covering 12,000 schools. The third phase, according to the minister, will be held in January-February next year.

“Gutsav is underway in Gujarat. Four officers of the State have been sent to Gujarat to get a first-hand-knowledge of Gutsav,” Sarma said, and added: “If we can do it properly, we can expect a qualitative change in education in the State.”

Meanwhile, a training programme for evaluators as part of Gutsav was organized by the Kamrup(M) district administration in the city today. The training was iugurated by DC M Angamuthu in the presence of IAS, IPS, ACS, APS, AFS and other officers. The 700 primary and upper primary schools of the district will be covered by the evaluation process.