Responding to regular tweets by BJP leaders, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had once asked mediapersons: What is tweetIJ It is only chee-chee…chen-chen. But after a gap of two years, he himself on Wednesday returned to blog to express his words on girls’ education in the State.
“Tweeting is for birds which sounds melodious in the morning…besides, it’s all chee-chee…chen,chen. It’s okay for the Bollywood actors who need to reach their fans,” Kumar had reacted against BJP leaders’ regular tweets in the days of social media to reach out to the maximum.
Kumar had some other take too: “True politicians are in touch directly with the people every day...they don’t need all this chee-chee…chen, chen”.
His last blog appeared on October 10, 2011 on his blogsite http://nitishspeaks.blogspot.in/ when he had dwelt at length about his Government’s onslaught against corruption. Ek wada nibhaya...bharastachar ke khilaph jung jari rahegi, was the caption of his blog which had received 34 comments.
But after two years, Kumar on Wednesday returned to express his words on the importance of girl education in the State and what welfare measures his Government has been taking for the promotion of it.
Kumar has given reference to the scheme he announced on the Independence Day for free school education to any girl from Class I to X in Bihar. “The only criterion is that the beneficiary of the scholarship should be the student of a Government school”, he wrote in his blog.
“What is significant about this decision is that schoolgirls from all sections of the society regardless of caste, creed, community and economic background will benefit from it. The only criterion is that the beneficiary should be a student of a Government school. That’s all,” Kumar has written in his recent post.
The CM has also called it a “revolutionary step which will give tremendous boost to women’s education in the State.” He has also made elaborate references to his earlier schemes like Mukhyamantri Balika Poshak Yojna and Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojna for the promotion of girl education in the State.
Kumar also expressed that through education of girl students the population of the State which has gone up by 25 per cent in the past decade, too could be stabilised.
Bihar has the fertility rate of 3.6 but it is only 2 among the Matric-pass girls. This is on par with the national rate but it gets further reduced to 1.6 among the Intermediate-pass girls which is less than the national average (1.7). This clearly indicates that education creates awareness about such things, Kumar wrote in his blog.
“I have, therefore, decided to establish a high school in each panchayat. At present, there is shortage of about 4,500 high schools across Bihar. The Cabinet has already approved of setting up of 1,000 high schools in the current financial year”, he further has elaborated in the blog.
So, the new scholarship scheme will give a tremendous fillip to their education. Its impact may not be understood immediately but it will usher in the social change in the coming years. Women’s education can be the most effective tool to usher in social revolution, wrote the Bihar CM in his long yet specific blog.
“I hope more and more girls will avail of this new scheme and join schools to study. As I told you, an educated girl means an educated family,” he expressed in his writing on the blog.