Assam CM announces slew of measures to improve education sector

Jorhat: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday announced a slew of reforms to improve the education sector in the State, including making all schools co- educational and making all those government schools dual medium which had teachers who could teach Science and Maths in English from Class 3 onwards. Addressing the inaugural function of the 65th Centralized Midday Meal Kitchen in the country and second in the State, set up at Garmur here by the Akshaya Patra Foundation, Sarma further said that in all schools from class 3 onwards Science and Maths would be taught in the English medium so that students could compete in all India exams like NEET, and History and Geography, in Assamese language. Sarma said that the teaching of Science and Maths in English would be balanced by learning History and Geography in Assamese so that the Assamese language could be learnt by the children. He further said that instead of Social Science, History would be taught and Geography, which had been discontinued, would be reintroduced, making the number of subjects in HSLC 6+1 instead of 5+1. He said that it was important that the children learn about the geography of the state and the country. Regarding making of all schools co-educational, he said that the education in government schools of the State was heavily tilted against girls with more boys' schools than girls. "We have decided to admit girls in all boys' schools and boys in all girls' school, except for a few girls' schools which have a long tradition of being girls' schools," Sarma said. Citing the example of Balya Bhawan School, one of the oldest private Assamese medium schools in Jorhat, the Chief Minister said that the government was mulling the introduction of free breakfast apart lunch in government schools, something which Balya Bhawan had introduced long ago, when he was admitted in the school in the primary level. Praising the Akshaya Patra Foundation, a charitable organization, for opening a kitchen in Jorhat, he said that the Foundation was doing a yeoman's service across the country by opening up such kitchens, so that children studying in public schools did not go hungry. He said that initially 12,000 students would be fed which would immediately be increased to 35,000 students in the district. Allaying fears that the cooks and helpers in cooking midday meals in the schools would become unemployed, he said that this would not happen and from now on they would receive the meals from Akshaya Foundation, distribute them among the school children and clean up after the food was eaten. He said that the Foundation had set up the kitchen in Jorhat at a cost of Rs 14 crore without taking a penny from the government, all the funds being collected from donors, among which were NRL, Credit Suisse and Apoorva Energy among others. Sarma said that his aim was to open 10 such kitchens in the State and one immediately in the river island of Majuli for which he said he would give government fund of Rs 14 crore to Akshaya Patra Foundation within one week. He said that search for land to set up the kitchen was on in Majuli. The Chief Minister added that Education Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu would sign an MoU with Akshaya Patra Foundation for setting up at least nine more kitchens in the State. He added that Nalbari, Tezpur and Dhemaji were all seeking such kitchens. He said that the objective was to feed at least six lakh school children and then cover 10 lakh in more than 53,000 government primary and high schools in the State. Also read: Assam: Pension Seva Kendra inaugurated in Kokrajhar Also watch: