The health and education sectors in Uttarakhand pose a major challenge for the new Bharatiya Janata Party Government led by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
One of the priorities of the new Government would be to provide doctors in the remote and mountainous parts of the state. The data of the State health department reveal that as many as 1615 posts of total 2711 posts of doctors are lying vacant at present. A staggering 60 percent of vacant posts have rendered the entire health system of State seriously ill. All efforts of the State Government like grant of DACP, hill allowance and other benefits have failed to attract doctors to the health services. To add salt to the injury scores of new doctors who had filled bonds with State Government as it provided subsided medical education to them absconded from duty while hundreds of others preferred to pay the bond amount then serving in mountainous location. It would be interesting to note how Trivendra Rawat acts on the issue. To provide funds to the medical colleges and associated hospitals of Srinagar, Haldwani and Dehradun would be another challenge for the new Government. In the election year the previous Government laid foundation stones of medical colleges in Pithoragarh, Kotdwar, Rudrapur and Bhagwanpur. The BJP Government would be under pressure to complete these new medical colleges. Brining in more hospitals in the panel of health insurance schemes like Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojna (MSBY) and U- Health card, recruitment in vacant posts of nurses and provide strength to the 108 ambulance service are other areas where the new Government is expected do some brainstorming.
The other area which needs immediate attention of the new Government is the education sector of the State. The lack of quality teachers and dismal infrastructural facilities act a bane for sector which once was considered to have a bright future. In the primary and secondary education, the new Government would be faced with the task of filling large number of vacant posts. The new Government would have to deal with many organisations of teachers, guest teachers and other employees which have divergent interests. It would also be interesting to note the action of new government in implementation of a proper transfer policy of teachers.
The constant reduction in the number of the students enrolled in the State education board would also act as a major challenge for the BJP Government. In last five years the State Board has lost more than 25000 students to boards like CBSE and ICSE. In the higher education sector the priority of the State Government should be to inculcate quality so that the standard of teaching and research increases.
All the colleges and universities of the State are faced with acute shortage of staff. Many colleges of the state are without their own building and the Government needs to generate considerable resources to put these institutes on right track.