Friday, 03 September 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
The School Education, Panchayati Raj and Sports minister Arvind Pandey is known for his no nonsense approach and bold decisions especially in the field of education. In an interaction with Gajendra Singh Negi of The Pioneer, the minister talked about different issues. Here are the excerpts.
The pandemic triggered by Covid-19 has taken a major toll on the education and learning process of children. What measures has the education department taken to compensate for this loss?
Our first priority was to protect children from the virus. Our teachers took online classes to teach the students similarly many of them even went to the houses of the students and taught them while following the Covid protocols. We are taking help from the Gyandeep programme of Doordarshan and YouTube channel to impart education to the children. Now with students of class VI and above coming to the school we have started a programme under ‘Mission Koshish’ under which the syllabus of the previous class would be revised.
The experts opine that the probable third wave of Covid would affect children. The vaccination of children has not started and the schools are gradually opening. What measures would be taken to safeguard the children?
I would again mention that ensuring the safety of children would be our priority and when we would perceive the threat, the decision of keeping the children at home would be taken. We are taking necessary measures in the schools and are emphasising on Covid appropriate behaviour. We have taken a target to vaccinate all our teachers till September 5.
When you took command of the education department you said that a fee regulation act would be brought to control the private schools but almost four and half years later the act is nowhere to be seen. Are you under pressure from the lobby of private schools?
I am not under any pressure. Yes some fingers are bound to get raised due to the delay in the proposed act. My intention is quite clear, the schools should charge fees according to the facilities and they should increase the salary of teachers and staff in proportion to the increase in the fees of the students. We ensured that all the schools of the state use only the books of National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT). These books are very cheap and parents across the state have benefited. The fees act would soon be brought.
What achievements do you list as the education minister?
Our biggest achievement is that we were able to bring back the confidence of people in government schools. This confidence is reflected in the increased enrolments in the government schools. The facilities in the schools have increased and the teachers are very confident. We have started 189 English medium CBSE affiliated Atal Utkrisht Vidhyalayas in all the blocks of the state. In 200 schools the vocational courses have started and virtual classroom facilities in 500 schools have started. We have appointed 1412 lecturers and 1818 Licensed Teachers (LT) in the schools while the process of appointment in thousands of posts in the education department is underway. The pass percentage is increasing continuously and the stipend of guest teachers has been increased to Rs 25,000 per month.
What steps are being taken to empower the Panchayati Raj bodies in the state?
A big change in the system has ushered in after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister. The Panchayats are now receiving money digitally in their accounts removing the pilferages in the process. The Panchayats are receiving a budget in proportion to their population. In Uttarakhand we made it mandatory that all the village Pradhans should have passed high school and disqualified those who had more than two children. This resulted in the arrival of a young and educated leadership in Panchayats. Now we have increased the stipend of Pradhans which will help in reducing corruption.
What is the status of the New Sports Policy?
It is ready and soon would be brought. To encourage the youngsters to take sports we should provide them financial help. To increase the infrastructure of sports we are planning to impose a cess of 50 paise on every bottle of liquor sold in the state.
