Arunachal will see transformation in education in next 3 yrs: CM Khandu

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has assured that over the next three financial years, the state will achieve a huge transformation in education that will ensure access to quality learning, improved infrastructure, and brighter opportunities to the youth of the state.

Speaking at a public meeting at Logum Jini, near Aalo in West Siang district on Monday, Khandu said that brainstorming sessions or ‘Chintan Shivirs’ are being conducted across the state headed by Education minister P D Sona and his advisor Mutchu Mithi to understand and document core issues in the department and ways and means to resolve them.

He said that once these sessions are completed, a comprehensive report with recommendations will be submitted to the state government for further action, an official statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said here on Tuesday. “I promise that recommended reforms will be 100% implemented on the ground,” Khandu assured.

Preferring quality for quantity, Khandu said that number of schools do not matter but quality of education does. In fact, he pointed, the huge number of government schools in the state had deteriorated the quality of education.

He said, “You will be surprised that in the last 9 years we have shut down more than 600 schools. More will be closed in the coming days.”

The government, he said, will focus on inter-village schools equipping them with all facilities like hostels, teachers and staff and modern teaching methods. To successfully implement the reforms, some of which, he claimed may be hard or harsh, Khandu sought support and cooperation of the people.

While mentioning the increasing revenue collection in the state exchequer, the chief minister reiterated that the state’s revenue generation is slated for a massive upward trend in the coming years. He termed hydropower as one of the most effective sources of revenue generation as Arunachal Pradesh alone holds 50% of India’s total hydropower generation capacity.

Khandu informed that the central government has agreed to give 26% equity share from each project to the state besides the existing quota of 12% free power. He said that if the proposed 35,000-mw is monetized in terms of revenue gained by the state in the next 10 years, it would be an astounding Rs 10000 crore per year. “The more revenue we generate, the more we can uplift the living condition of our people,” he said.

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