In an effort to increase infrastructural and other facilities in the Government schools of Uttarakhand, the education minister Arvind Pandey has appealed all Members of legislative Assembly (MlA) to contribute at least 15 percent of their local area development fund. In a letter directed to all legislators of the state assembly, the minister has requested that by allotting 15 percent of total funds available at their discretion the infrastructural other facilities in the Government schools of the State would get a boost.
The Minister has written letters to all MlA’s including the Chief Minister and assembly speaker. In the letter, Pandey has made a fervent appeal to the legislators and said that the primary objective of the State Government is to strengthen the Government schools and make attempts to beautify them. He said that if 15 percent of Member of legislative Assembly local Area Development (MlA lAD) fund is provided to the Government schools, then these schools which lag behind in terms of infrastructure and other facilities would get strengthened by this financial boost.
In another important decision the Education Minister has directed all schools to set up a book bank. In an order, he has said that the students who will contribute their old books to the book banks would be rewarded with additional marks. If the students have kept the books in good condition and deposited it in the book bank then he/ she would be awarded five additional marks. The objective of setting up book banks is to make available books to all students and avoid wasteful expenditure on books every year.
In Uttarakhand there are 15354 government primary schools (class I to VIII) while number of Government secondary schools is 2217. In Government primary schools of the State, a total of 750912 students are enrolled while in secondary schools, 162100 students are enrolled.