The small, mountainous, border district of Pithoragarh leads others by miles in the implementation of the Education Department’s drive to enrol students in the Government schools. In the one day ‘ School Chalo’ drive organised on Wednesday, 8014 students were enrolled in the primary and upper primary schools of this tiny district while a much bigger and populous district like Dehradun could muster only 3170 enrollments on the day. In another feat the 1200 odd schools of the district have admitted about 40000 students since April 01 this year.
The concept of model schools which was recently launched by the department is also successful in the district. Take the example of Primary School (PS) Gurna where the number of students this season shot to 200 from 28, similarly in PS Madkot the student strength rose to over 300 from a modest 70. In remote PS of Kutti Dharchula village, the number of students increased to 100 from 30. Appreciating the efforts of the officers and teachers of Pithoragarh district, the Primary Education Director, Seema Jaunsari said that model schools are attracting lot of students in the district. She was confident that more admissions would take place in these schools. Jaunsari admitted that small districts are performing much better in the enrollment drive and are showing way for others to follow. It is worth mentioning here that the Department is contemplating closure of many schools where the number of students is very less. Most of these schools are located in the mountainous areas of the State.
When contacted the District Education Officer (DEO), basic of Pithoragarh, Saukat Ali told The Pioneer that success of enrollment campaign was due to the efforts of teachers. He said that all 24 model schools in the district are evoking good response from the people. Ali added that he is giving more emphasis on collective effort and at the same time the monitoring process of the schools is being effectively implemented. “ The teachers of Government school are more qualified than those teaching in private schools and given proper encouragement they can turn around the things for good in Government schools,’’ he said. On the model schools, the DEO said that the department would provide all the facilities and one teacher for every subject in these schools.
In the enrolment campaign, teachers of Government schools are focusing on 6 to 14 age group children and informing their parents about the benefits like Mid Day Meal (MDM), free textbooks, free uniforms and better qualification of teachers in the Government schools. Parents are also being informed about he benefits of scholarship programmes, computer education and health programmes .