Nod for education overhaul in Arunachal

ITANAGAR : Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Tuesday approved an ambitious plan of the state government to completely overhaul the education system in the state right from the infrastructure of schools to evaluation, promotion, motivation and transfer and posting of teachers through technological interventions.
The campaign touted Mission Shiksa, which is in concept stage at the moment, is a roadmap highlighting the lacunas that are eating into the education system and the needed government interventions.
It also brings into picture psychological aspects of teachers, students and administrators that dampen the morale of both teachers and students in different ways.
The campaign’s vision is to ‘provide good quality education to the students in an improved educational environment and uplifting the morale of teachers’.
As per the Govt of India’s Performance Grading Index (PGI), Arunachal Pradesh ranks amongst the lowest in the country, which the Mission Shiksa aims to uplift.
To start with, Khandu suggested identification of one school with high enrolment in each assembly constituency and completely overhauling it with technological and digital interventions.
“After the district administrations identify one school each in the 60 assembly constituencies, a technical team from the education department will physically visit and assess these schools and recommend what interventions are required,” he said.
Khandu also recommended that the entire state be divided into three zones – East, West and Central – each be assigned to an independent agency to study and lay out parameters and evaluate performance of teachers as well as students as per the PGI.
He directed the education department to bring the concept of Mission Shiksha to a practical mode and submit to the government in the next meeting what and how it would implement the mission in a time bound manner in detail.
The roadmap focuses on early childhood care and education, live classes through a two-way system using VSATs, construction of teachers quarters, closing down of zero enrolment schools (so far 372 such schools have been closed down), concentrate on high enrolment schools, evaluation of performance of both teachers and students, one-to-one yearly training of teachers, strengthening of DIESTs (District Institutes of Educational and Training) and SCERTs (State Council of Educational Research and Training), etc.
It also envisages making digital and transparent transfer and posting of teachers through a software based system, which is in the making and supposed to be ready within the next few months.
Education minister Taba Tedir, chief secretary Naresh Kumar, commissioner to the chief minister, secretary education and other top officials of the education department were present in the meeting.