Taking tough decisions to enhance quality of education, says minister

Education Minister Rohit Thakur said the state government was taking major decisions to enhance the quality of education in the state while speaking on the inaugural day of the three-day workshop on ‘quality education in Himachal’ here today. The workshop, being organised Samagra Shiksha and Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration, was attended by Former Union Education Secretary Anil Swarup, Education Secretary Rakesh Kanwar, Central Government’s Deputy Education Secretary Lingaraj Panda and officials of the Education Department.

Stating that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu gave him the task of improving the quality of education, Thakur said several decisions had been taken to achieve the objective. “Merger of schools, filling up the vacant posts of teaching staff, banning transfer of teachers in the middle of the session, etc., are some of the major decision to enhance the quality of education,” the minister said.

He further said that the state government was working on a policy to not allow political interference in the education department. “For quality education, focus is on the training of teachers. Sending teachers to Singapore on exposure tour and training school heads from IIM Sirmaur are steps taken in this direction,” he said.

Anil Swaroop, a former Union Education Secretary, said District Institute of Education and Training (DIE) were doing good work, and other DIET centres could follow them. He stressed on further strengthening of DIETs and training of teachers.

Education Secretary Rakesh Kanwar said the state government had shown the will to improve the standard of education. “In the last two years, the government has taken several decisions which will help in improving the quality of education,” he said. He also urged the Centre to adopt a flexible attitude regarding the funds given to the states for education. “The states should be given flexibility in using the funds,” he said.

Samagra Shiksha Director Rajesh Sharma gave a presentation on the education scenario in the state. “Himachal is at the fifth place in the country in terms of per student expenditure. The state is spending a large part of its budget on education, although a large part of it is being spent on teachers’ salaries,” he said.

Deputy Secretary Education in the Central government, Lingaraj Panda, highlighted the main points of the New Education Policy-2020.