Itanagar: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Sunday said that under the New Education Policy, the State Government will focus on four thrust areas – Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), e-Governance and Digital Education, and Vocational and Teachers’ Education – to shape future scope and dynamics of the State’s education scenario.
“The New Education Policy introduced by the present government at the Centre is one of the biggest reforms ever in the education sector. The State government is all set to achieve the vision of 10 years as proposed in the policy, for which two State Task Forces have been constituted,” , Khandu said while addressing the State level Teachers’ Day function at Banquet Hall here this morning.
“We have recently launched ‘Mission Shiksha’ with an aim to provide good quality education to the students in an improved educational environment and uplifting the morale of teachers. We have also declared 2021 as the Year of Education and will invest sufficiently through convergence to overhaul our education system,” Khandu said.
Despite being a late starter (Arunachal had only 3 primary schools at the time of Independence), Khandu said at present the state boasts of about 4000 schools. However, he lamented that the quality of education instead of growing has degraded in these years.
“We as a state have certainly faltered somewhere. We grew from 3 primary schools to 4000 schools. The number of teachers also increased manifold but we are still struggling to improve our quality of education. So many drawbacks and complaints still continue to haunt the system,” the CM wondered.
He blamed the “lack” of a robust transfer and posting policy of the government for the “poor” quality of education in most of the government-run schools.
“On record, we have a sufficient number of teachers but still so many schools across the State report shortage of teachers. This has to be resolved. Our Education department is working on it and soon transfer and posting will be digitally and transparently rationalized which will be available on the department’s web portal,” Khandu informed.
He also said political interference in transfer and posting, particularly in Health and Education departments “will not be allowed”.
As schools are reopening after a long time due to the pandemic, he said the teachers have more work to do with their students. “You have the added burden to rekindle the interest to learn in students, who might have got distracted due to the pandemic. Future of our students depends upon you more so in the post-pandemic period,” Khandu observed.
Raising the issue of drug abuse, Khandu called upon the teachers to join the fight against the menace. He said the government is determined to eradicate this evil and sought cooperation from teachers to spread awareness and educate students on the ill effects of drug abuse.
On the occasion, 40 teachers from across Arunachal Pradesh were conferred with the ‘State Teachers Award 2021’ for their service to the State. Also, third language textbooks for eight tribes of Arunachal, published by SCERT, were released on the occasion.
State Education Minister Taba Tedir also attended the function.
