Itanagar: Expressing disgust and exasperation over the report of paper leakage during the recently held state board examination of class VIII, Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu on Sunday said that the case would be handed over to the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) of the state police for investigation.
Mincing no words in condemning those involved, he said the crime committed is against an entire generation of future citizens of the state.
“I have taken the matter seriously and directed the chief secretary to hand over the case to SIC for investigation and no one found involved will be spared. I have been told that few arrests have been made but I want to ensure that not a single person involved should go scot-free,” Khandu informed.
Speaking at a function at the Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya (VKV) at Gaga in Kurung Kumey district, Khandu said he felt bad about speaking about the incident before the young students of the school.
“It pains me very much that when on one hand we are giving everything to uplift the education scenario of the state, few ill intended individuals throw water over our tireless efforts.
I want to assure the young students, who are the future of our state, that whatever action is required to make Arunachal better, I will not hesitate to take, no matter what or who,” Khandu assured.
Following the report of leakage of the social science question paper on social media, the Arunachal Pradesh State Board Examination had cancelled the social science examination of class VIII on Wednesday.
Emphasizing that the government’s thrust is on quality education, Khandu informed that old and dilapidated infrastructure of government schools are being overhauled, shortage of subject teachers is being met through recruitment by the state public service commission and in-service training of government teachers.
“As a pilot project, we will completely overhaul 60 government schools with completely new infrastructure, one each in the 60 assembly constituencies of the state,” he informed.
He, however, pointed out that quality in education cannot be achieved only through infrastructure development or depending solely on the government. He said quality education can be achieved only through community participation.
“Just as the community of Gaga and Nyapin circle have voluntarily contributed in establishment and running of the VKV school here, active participation of community members in running of schools is required to bring in quality education,” Khandu explained.
Lauding the people of the area for the collective decision to establish a VKV at Gaga, he said the fruits of this decision will be reaped by the people themselves in the near future.
Khandu also appreciated the VKV authorities, particularly principal of the school Pramod Kumar Gupta, for running the school successfully despite lack of facilities.
“I am quite aware that the grant-in-aid offered by the state government to the Kendra doesn’t suffice to efficiently run about 40 VKVs across Arunachal. But they are doing it honestly and sincerely,” he observed.
He assured that soon he will have a detailed meeting with all concerned including the state’s planning commissioner to chalk out how the government can further help the organization, especially in creation of infrastructure such as academic blocks, teachers’ quarters, hostels, etc.
Observing that the approach road to the school is not black-topped, Khandu directed the agency officer concerned to immediately start work on it.
“This road must be black-topped within a month as monsoon season is approaching. We will arrange funds for it but the work must begin in advance,” he ordered.
Impressed by the band display by young students of the school, Khandu offered to contribute from his personal resources whatever is needed to further improve the band display performance. In the same line, he called upon all affluent officers and businessmen hailing from the area to donate from their personal coffers for development of the school.
Khandu was accompanied by home minister Bamang Felix, Lok Sabha MP Tapir Gao, legislators Phurpa Tsering and Laisam Simai and others.
