School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash on Tuesday met Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Ramesh Pokhriyal in New Delhi and urged him for timely disposal of Central funds to help the State achieve excellence in the education sector.
Dash appraised Pokhriyal that though the State is striving hard to achieve excellence in education, paucity of funds at times have proved to be the biggest stumbling block to achieve the desired results.
He also urged the Union Minister to enhance the honorarium to Rs 600 as Central share for each school cook-cum-helper. He sought release of about Rs 22.92 crore as the Centre’s share for the Centrally-sponsored scheme of Teacher Education and Samagra Shiksha.
Dash also requested Pokhriyal to extend the deadline for acquiring required qualification by the existing elementary teachers to March 31, 2020.
Besides, he urged the Union Minister to conduct a Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) through a national testing agency for the entire country to maintain parity in the education system.