E-Paper
Only 27K registered in state under literacy programme
The work of the scheme has slowed down as the teachers’ unions boycotted the work of the scheme terming it as non-educational
As many as 26,938 have registered for the Nav Bharat Saksharta Abhiyan or New India Literacy Programme in the state, as of October 21, said officials.
The state has a combined target of 12.40 lakh for the previous and current year. At least 5,587 online tagging, 3,661 online registrations of volunteers and 1,291 tagging have been completed.
As per the education department, October 28 is the revised deadline for registration of illiterates in the state. As per the objective, online tagging of illiterate and volunteers is to be done on the ‘Ullas’ mobile app by October 31. However, the work of the scheme has slowed down as the teachers’ unions boycotted the work of the scheme terming it as non-educational.
“It was observed that the organisations have stopped the offline survey and to some extent training in the state. The education department has claimed that while this scheme is running smoothly in other states of the country, this picture in progressive Maharashtra is not comforting,” said a senior education officer requesting anonymity.
On October 16 and 17, in the presence of school education minister Deepak Kesarkar, principal secretary Ranjit Singh Deol, education commissioner Suraj Mandre, and other officials a review meeting was held regarding the current status and implementation of the scheme.
There was a comprehensive discussion in the two-day state-level workshop, it was determined to effectively implement the scheme. Kesarkar has stated that Nav Bharat Saksharta Abhiyan is an educational programme and teachers will be a part of it.
After deciding the next direction in the state-level workshop, project director Mahesh Palkar, primary education director Sharad Gosavi, secondary and higher secondary director Sampat Suryavanshi and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) director Amol Yedge issued a joint circular regarding the action to be taken against officers and employees who misbehave during survey, online registration and tagging, training, study-teaching, district level meetings. Orders regarding the same were issued on October 20.
“According to the applicable provisions of MEPS Act and Regulations, secondary school code and also as per the provisions of the training policy, authorities have been instructed to take action against concerned officials-employees who cause loss, delay, misbehaviour in the work at any stage of the implementation of the scheme,” said Mahesh Palkar, director of education (planning).
