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Bihar cabinet meeting: No attendance bar for financial incentives this year in view of Covid
The cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar has done away with the compulsory provision for 75% attendance for financial incentives in view of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic. All the schools, from primary to high schools, remained closed to curb spread of the pandemic.
Students of government schools or studying in the aided and affiliated institutions of the state would get financial benefits of the education department’s schemes like scholarships, cycle, uniform and other schemes without complying with the mandatory 75% attendance, the state cabinet decided on Wednesday.
The cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar has done away with the compulsory provision for 75% attendance for financial incentives in view of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic. All the schools, from primary to high schools, remained closed to curb spread of the pandemic.
This was among the 21 proposals approved by the state cabinet.
An official of the education department said this was one-time arrangement for the current fiscal and the mandatory provision for attendance would be restored once the normal school classes are resumed.
Nearly 1.50 crore students, enrolled in the government’s primary, middle and high schools, government aided schools of the same grades and recognised schools, would qualify for the financial incentives given through the direct benefit transfer schemes.
In another important decision to improve the quality of education, the cabinet approved the education department’s proposal to recruit at least one physical training instructor in all 8,386 primary schools. The teachers would get ₹8000 as monthly remuneration with ₹200 annual increment.
Education minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said it was a major decision to get the students of primary schools exposure to physical training. “Those physical instructors, who had qualified for recruitment in 2019, would be accommodated against the vacancies forthwith,” said Chaudhary, while thanking the CM for approving the proposal in the light of the department’s assurance in the state legislature.
An official said nearly 3,700 physical training instructors, who were declared qualified in 2019, would be absorbed in the job soon, while recruitment for the rest of instructors would be done in the coming months.
