To mark the completion of three years of NIPUN Bharat Mission, the State School Education and Literacy Department and Jharkhand Education Project Council in collaboration with India Partnership for Early Learning (IPEL) - FLN PMU organised a one-day State-level NIPUN Samagam Jharkhand at Prabhat Tara ground in Ranchi. As many as 450 teachers from 24 districts of Jharkhand, representatives of ten non-governmental groups and thousands of school children participated in this event.
The event was inaugurated by the Secretary of the State School Education and Literacy Department, Umashankar Singh. Also present for the event were Director of Social Welfare, Women and Child Development and Social Security Department Shashi Prakash Jha, Director of Primary Education Shashi Prakash Singh, Director of Secondary Education Utkarsh Gupta, State Education Specialist of UNICEF Parul Sharma, Chief of IPEL Care, Dr. Geeta Verma, State Program Officer Abhinav Kumar and other dignitaries.
Addressing the program, the Secretary of the State Government School Education and Literacy Department, Umashankar Singh said that there is no dearth of talent among the teachers of government schools and urged to make the teaching-learning process interesting and entertaining. Singh also emphasized to make the educational environment of schools encouraging in order to prevent dropout of children enrolled in classes 1 to 5. Singh also stressed upon on teaching TLM to children in their regional and mother tongue and also instructed to continuously monitor TLM to make it effective.
Singh also said that Jharkhand Education Project should work towards making TLM excellent and giving its benefits to children by keeping in mind all 24000 primary schools in a phased manner. Singh also said that programs like NIPUN Samagam should be held at regular intervals. “Today, with the help of the trained teachers who have shown their skills in the State-level NIPUN Samagam, such teachers can be taught the skill of making TLM by organising training sessions in every district of the state through JCERT. There is no need to buy any expensive product for TLM, but it is necessary to have an interest to make better.”
Jharkhand Education Project Director Aditya Ranjan said that the talent displayed by the teachers of government schools in the Nipun Samagam will prove to be a milestone and that Nipun Samagam will now be organised every year. “One room in every school will be established as a TLM room, so that children from class one to five can get knowledge of language and numeracy in their mother tongue or regional or tribal language. The teachers, who have proved their talent in the district and block level TLM fair before this State level event, cannot be praised enough. The department will provide funds at the school level to make the best TLM so that the talent of teachers can be encouraged further.”
Director of Social Welfare, Women and Child Development and Social Security Department, Shashi Prakash Jha said that an exhibition of TLM must be organised in a room of DIET and schools of all districts. “Teachers who are skilled in making TLM should be sent to visit other schools so that they can train other teachers as well. Children studying in Anganwadi should be connected to such creative education from now itself, so that they can become proficient in education and numeracy in future. “
The teachers selected in the district level TLM fair displayed their FLN/TLM models in the State level Nipun Samagam. The three districts that made the best TLM in this exhibition were awarded. Dhanbad became the overall winner of Nipun Samagam Jharkhand 2024 while Dumka became the first runner up and West Singhbhum became the second runner up. The jury comprised of Mamta Elizabeth Lakra, Seema Rajput and Gayatri Subramaniam. The winners were awarded by the Secretary of the Department of School Education and LiteracyUmashankar Singh.
During the Samagam, Secretary of School Education and Literacy Department, Umashankar Singh and other dignitaries jointly released Children's Literature. Seven teachers who composed this book were also honoured including Ravishankar Pathak, Satendra Kumar, Meenu Kumari, Anjali Kujur, Jaya Prabha, Binish Kumar Shukla, Shipra Mishra. An Activity Bank Handbook was also released during the Samagam. The SMC Campaign and FLN Championship to be held in all the districts of the State between July 2024 and September 2024 were also launched in the Samagam.
TLM exhibition was also organised by 14 teachers selected from all the districts in Nipun Samagam Jharkhand 2024. The teachers presented their model in the State level Nipun Samagam after being selected in the block and district level TLM fair.
