PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
Chief secretary Anand Bardhan has directed the secretary Education to ensure that book banks are established in all the schools of the State. He gave the direction while participating in a review meeting of the Education department at the State secretariat on Wednesday. The CS said that once these book banks are established, the books can be returned to them by the students after passing a class and distributed to students in the next class. “The books that have been damaged or that children were unable to return for any reason should be reprinted and new books should be printed to meet demand. This will save crores of rupees otherwise needed for printing thousands of books each year,’’ he said.
In the meeting the CS directed the officers to expedite the construction of classrooms and hostels in the cluster schools. He said that the department should take the funds for the purpose from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). He also directed that all schools be provided with basic facilities such as electricity, water and toilets. The CS stated that a permanent solution to the cleanliness of school toilets needs to be found and a mechanism should be developed to ensure the cleanliness of toilets in schools.
He said that digital libraries should also be established in the schools. The CS said that digital libraries would provide students with the opportunity to read more books and gain knowledge.
Secretary Ravinath Raman, director of Secondary Education Mukul Kumar Sati and other senior officers were present on this occasion.
