Bihar: Tejashwi Yadav reviews education dept as govt takes key decisions

The Bihar government has finalised a better pay-scale of the new lot of 1.78-lakh teachers to be appointed through the Bihar Public Service Commission and the process is already underway

Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday held a detailed review of the education department and issued directions for major policy shifts with focus on quality, accessibility and large-scale recruitments.

The deputy CM also stressed on the provision of scholarships for meritorious students in the review meeting. (Tejashwi Yadav | Twitter)

The meeting was attended by state education minister Chandrashekhar, additional chief secretary Dipak Kumar Singh and other top officials.

The move comes in wake of the Grand Alliance (GA) government’s recent decision to give government employee status to teachers appointed through the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), a major departure from the policy adopted since 2006 for recruitment through Panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies.

The Bihar government has finalised a better pay-scale of the new lot of 1.78-lakh teachers to be appointed through the BPSC and the process is already underway for the secondary and higher secondary schools despite opposition by nearly four lakh teachers appointed since 2006 over the exam rider for getting the government employee status.

In keeping with the announcement in the Bihar assembly to open model residential schools on the lines of the Simultala Aawasiya Vidyalay (SAV), which was opened in 2010 to fill the void of Netarhat Aawasiya Vidyalay in Jharkhand after Bihar’s bifurcation, in every district, the government has decided to start with the nine divisions in the first phase.

“The deputy CM reviewed the plan and said that in the first phase, the model residential schools should be opened in the nine divisional headquarters and later it will be replicated in all the districts. The idea is to have one pace-setting school in every district. It will have a structural framework like the Navodaya Vidyalay Sangathan with centralised monitoring and autonomy with accountability to ensure holistic education to the talented lot of students selected through state-level test,” said ACS Dipak K Singh.

The government has already started working on the move and a committee comprising experts associated with SAV, Netarhat and other institutions is working on the modalities for setting up schools blending the concept of ‘ashramisation of education’ with modern-day needs.

The deputy CM also stressed on the provision of scholarships for meritorious students.

“He also wanted provision of scholarships to meritorious students getting opportunities to pursue higher learning in reputed institutions of foreign countries. The foreign scholarships will be in limited numbers from the state government,” Singh added.