Students to be sent abroad on exposure visits: Minister

The Education Department will send meritorious students of Class X and XII on exposure visits to different parts of the country and abroad every year, said Education Minister Rohit Thakur after a meeting here today.

He said that parameters would be framed for sending meritorious students on these exposure visits. “A recommendation has been made to send 20 students each from Class X and XII on tours. Besides, 10 students will be selected from sports, cultural activities, NCC, NSS and Bharat Scouts and Guides for the exposure visits. The government has already started sending teachers abroad on exposure visits to improve their teaching skills,” he added.

The minister summoned the records of teachers and officers, who had been on deputation in other states for many years. “Notices will be issued to these teachers and officers and they will be posted back in the state as soon as possible,” he said.

In the meeting, suggestions were discussed regarding rationalisation of teaching staff and other employees in schools. A proposal for organising annual functions in schools before November 30 and in colleges by February 20 was also discussed. “It was unanimously decided to shift colleges running from rented buildings to the vacant buildings of merged schools,” the minister said.

For increasing the strength of students in government schools, the minister directed the officials concerned to study the model adopted by Assam, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat. Further, a presentation was given by the Samagra Shiksha Project on the performance of students of Class III, VI and IX in the National Achievement Survey. Under this survey held recently, 1.61 lakh students participated in an artificial intelligence-based examination conducted in 13,000 schools. “All wings of the Education Department should work in coordination so that corrective measures may be adopted for better results,” the minister said.

As for ensuring the presence of teachers in schools, the minister said that all 15,000 schools would have bio-metric attendance by next month. “Online attendance of students will also be started in a phased manner,” he added. Discussions were also held on setting standards for giving awards to the teachers and principals of colleges and starting new subjects there.