Madhya Pradesh
Bhagavad Gita stand-off
Madhya pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has stirred a hornet’s nest by announcing that Bhagavad Gita will be taught in all schools in the state. The opposition Congress party has described the proposal as an attempt to “saffronise” school education.
“Teaching the Gita is no crime and the government will include the teaching of the Gita in the educational curriculum,” Chouhan said at an event organised by the RSS-backed Saraswati Vidya Pratishthan in Indore on November 13. Moreover, stating that English has been “overemphasised” compared to other subjects in school curriculums, the chief minister said his government’s priority is to “correct” the curriculum and promote Hindi. Accor-ding to him, most of the government work is done in Hindi and the state won’t hesitate to promote the national language.
Responding, Ajay Singh, leader of the opposition in the state legislative assembly, accused Chouhan of follo-wing the RSS agenda. In a statement, Singh said Chouhan’s rationale for introducing Gita lessons in schools doesn’t reflect the views of the people of Madhya Pradesh. “Not only does Chouhan think like Hitler, he is also using the language of a dictator,” said Singh, alleging that minorities are insecure in the state.
Assam
National Education Day initiatives
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi launched the Right to Education Mission in the state on November 11 (National Education Day), and promised his government will vigorously implement the Right to Education Act to bring about a “total transformation of society”.
Gogoi said his government has accorded high priority to education from primary to university levels as it is the only way that Assam can forge ahead on all fronts. He underscored the need for reducing school dropout percen-tages and increasing enrolment in primary education.
“Inclusion of the Right to Education Act by the UPA government as a fundamental right will bring about a sea change not only in the education sector, it will also stimulate national develop-ment,” he added.
To commemorate National Education Day, an agreement was signed by the Assam government and the British Council to enhance the spelling, listening, reading and writing skills of English teachers in the state’s primary schools.
Delhi
PPP model schools approved
The Union cabinet approved in principle a proposal to promote 2,500 model schools across the country under public-private partnerships (PPP). The schools will be established during the 12th Plan (2012-17) period. The proposal, cleared on November 24, envisages primary-secondaries with emphasis on the teaching of science, maths and English, and bridge-courses for academically weak students.
According to government sources, each school will have a capacity of 2,000 with the Centre sponsoring 980 students. The remaining 1,000-plus seats will be allocated at the discretion of private managements who will be obliged to purchase land and construct buildings. The schools will admit students in classes VI-XII and will be affiliated to the Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education.
The government has budgeted a total of 6,000 model schools, of whom 2,500 will be established under PPP.
Gujarat
Primaries evaluation programme
The Gujarat state government’s annual programme of evaluating primary schools began on November 24 with chief minister Narendra Modi visiting a Muslim community-dominated govern-ment primary in Banskantha district. Every year, the state government evaluates its primary schools with ministers, top bureaucrats and eminent persons visiting primaries across the state for three days, and evaluating and ranking them inter se.
To give a boost to the state’s schools improvement programme (gunotsav), the chief minister travelled to Jasaw-antgadh-Bhemal village school to check for himself the academic environment, adequacy of teaching staff and students’ competence in computers, maths and other subjects.
The school is sited approx 30 km from Ambaji with the majority of students being from the Muman-Muslim community enroled in classes I-VIII. The entire council of ministers led by the chief minister, IAS officers and 3,000-plus officials are participating in the third gunotsav campaign to evaluate and upgrade the state’s 32,274 government primary schools.
Maharashtra
HDFC enters school education
The Mumbai-based housing mortgages major HDFC Ltd announced a strategic foray into the education sector through a wholly owned subsidiary which will promote schools and address the vocational education and training needs of the public. “We will start with baby steps to build an education promotion organisation practising the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, integrity and transparency,” HDFC chairman, Deepak Parekh said in a press statement released on November 9.
“The objective of the initiative is to enable middle income households countrywide to access affordable quality education spread across every segment of a student’s learning life cycle,” he said, adding that HDFC’s managing director, Renu Sud Karnad, will oversee the initiative.
HDFC has already entered the education sector through its dedicated education finance company Credila Financial Services. Under the new initiative, HDFC will promote schools and also provide management and other allied services, the statement said.
According to Keki Mistry, vice chairman of HDFC, the company has availed this opportunity to provide education “as a long-term investment theme providing yet another oppor-tunity like housing, to fulfil social objectives and at the same time to create value for all stakeholders”. Additionally, to make students employable, HDFC has also entered the vocational education and training sector.