Assam Government Signs MoU With Piramal Foundation

Education revamp

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam government on Saturday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Piramal Foundation to revamp the educational scenario in the State with focus on ‘aspirational districts’— Baksa, Barpeta, Darrang, Dhubri and Goalpara.

The MoU was signed by Preetom Saikia, Commissioner of Elementary Education, Assam and Manmohan Singh, Director of Piramal Foundation and Kaivalya Education Foundation, in the presence of Maninder Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Professor Mihir Kanti Chaudhari, Education Advisor to the Government of Assam and ex-vice chancellor of Tezpur University, Shamsher Singh, Mission Director (SSA Assam) and Purabi Gogoi, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Elementary Education and a ten-member delegation from Piramal Foundation.

The five ‘aspirational districts’ have shown distinctive performance in various aspects of education over the last one year with initiatives jointly taken by the deputy commissioners concerned and the Education department together with Piramal Foundation.

Some of the key highlights include improvement in the transition rate of Baksa district from elementary to upper primary level by 27 per cent; improvement in transition rate of Goalpara district from elementary to upper primary level by 6 per cent, reaching to 98.6 per cent this year; improvement in enrolment numbers in government schools in Dhubri through Amar Vidyalay Amar Abhimaan Campaign by 18 per cent; breaking the last three-year trend of fall in enrolment in government schools, etc. The MoU signing ceremony was followed by a meeting with Chief Secretary Alok Kumar and he was updated on the progress made in the educational sphere in different districts.

Piramal Foundation (Education) has partnered with NITI Aayog to improve education indicators in 25 ‘aspirational districts’ across eight States in India. As an extension to this programme, it is working in partnership with the Government of Assam and NITI Aayog to improve education indicators in the five ‘aspirational districts’. Through the Aspirational Districts Transformation Programme (ADTP), it supports the district collectors and district education officials to develop the capacity of middle managers for supportive supervision.

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