The Education department will introduce English medium classes in its eight Government primary schools in Dehradun district from the next academic session, said Uttarakhand Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani after chairing a meeting with department officers on Wednesday.
The Government school teachers will be transferred under Uttarakhand Teacher Transfer Policy after September 15, he added. The Education Minister said that teachers suffering from major diseases like cancer and kidney failure and widow teachers will also be transferred based on their request in September.
Naithani said that the department will conduct Teacher Eligibility Test in September and education officers have been directed to take necessary steps for this. A total of 173 government schools collapsed in the recent disaster and students of these schools are taught in Panchayat Bhawan or shifted to local Government schools. The central government has approved Rs 15 crore for reconstruction of collapsed or damaged schools. Rs five crore will be spent for reconstruction of primary schools and Rs seven crore for higher secondary schools.
Asked about problems in midday meal scheme implementation due to hike in price of vegetables, the Minister simply said that the Central Government had fixed cooking cost as Rs five per student for junior high school and Rs 3.34 per student for primary school. Some private sector units have expressed wish to reconstruct school buildings in the State. They will be allowed to reconstruct school buildings after they take permission from district magistrate concerned, he added.
The Minister said that he had recently conducted random survey of student teacher ratio and report revealed that department has around 2,623 surplus teachers deployed in various schools.
These teachers will be deployed in schools where number of teachers is less than government standards. Naithani said that the school education director CS Gwal was directed to form a team for inspecting teachers' availability, status of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) schemes and level of education in the schools.
The several vacant posts under RMSA will be filled through private agencies. He claimed that around 95 per cent Government schools in the State have drinking water facilities. The education officers have been directed to provide training to teachers who are interested in teaching students in English medium in proposed schools in Dehradun, the Minister added.