Dispur moves to involve alumni in schools' upkeep

Bid to meet shortage of fans and other amenities

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The State Government has now decided to involve alumni of respective primary and secondary schools and the community as a whole in maintenance and improvement of basic amenities of these institutions.

The State Government has taken the cue in this regard from the 'Vidyanjali 2.0' programme launched by the Union Education Ministry in line with the National Educational Policy 2020 (NEP). The programme in question provides a platform to alumni, community, CSR, NGOs, individuals, professionals etc., to contribute voluntary services and assets to various schools through the Vidyanjali portal.

A letter was sent recently by the Mission Director of Samagra Siksha, Assam (SSA), which informed the Deputy Commissioners of all districts of the State, along with the Principal Secretaries of BTR, NC Hills Autonomous Council and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, that there is a shortage of basic amenities such as desks, benches, ceiling fans and water filters in Government and provincialized schools. The letter further stated that as of now, there is a requirement of 2,06,464 ceiling fans in 31,353 elementary and 4,040 secondary schools of the State.

The letter stated that "it may take some time" for the Government to meet this requirement. As such, all Deputy Commissioners have been asked to seek the assistance of alumni and the community as a whole by way of donating ceiling fans the institutions concerned in view of the fact that "alumni & community are two important stakeholders of (the) school education system and have a great role in improving different development activities of the schools."

The letter also mentioned that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has issued an instruction for involvement of alumni and the community at large to become "a part of noble initiatives by contributing to their schools."

It may be mentioned that all schools have been already instructed to form alumni associations for the purpose.

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