By Vivek Tripathi
Lucknow, May 30 (IANS): Minister of State for Basic Education (independent charge), Satish Dwivedi, has said that children of migrants who have come back to the state from other states will be admitted to government schools. He said a survey to identify such children will be launched soon.
In an exclusive interview with IANS, Dwivedi said that the Yogi Adityanath government has targeted to provide education to all. He said that as soon as the schools start, children of the migrant labourers will be admitted to government schools following a survey, adding that the children will get all the facilities which are given to students in government schools.
Asked when will the new academic session start, Dwivedi said, as per the guidelines issued by the UGC for the higher education, it will start from September. He said the classes for the old semester will start from August. "Keeping in view all this, primary educational institutions are not likely to start before July, as used to be the case earlier, given the current situation. A decision to this effect will be taken after situation improves," he said.
Are the teachers sitting idle in lockdown? When asked, the minister said, "No, some teachers are busy in online classes. Some of them have been deployed at the quarantine centres which are generally the primary schools. Some have been given the task of creating awareness about Covid-19 in the villages by the district administration, while others have been asked to provide assistance in distribution of ration."
But online classes in villages? How was this possible? To this, Dwivedi said, "This did not seem possible earlier as mostly the poor children come to the government schools. However, this was made possible with the help of technology. The guardians of the children were added to the WhatsApp group and were given homework. The children did complete the homework which was checked by the teachers. Apart from this, we used Google app and other apps such as TikTok to carry out online classes."
He said, the primary schools in Uttar Pradesh were using digital methods with the help of Union HRD ministry to impart education on children. He said the government even used the services of All India Radio for online classes. "We bought a time slot of one and half hours on DD UP for online classes," he said.
On the question of change in syllabus, the minister said, there are many suggestions in this regard. Even the chief minister suggested to include coronavirus and other such viral and infectious diseases in the syllabus. There are some other topics also which may be included. The government is looking at it, he said.
On the question of many flaws in the mid day meal scheme, Dwivedi said, "We are monitoring the scheme regularly to avoid any corruption. During the lockdown, it was impossible to provide mid day meal to school children. Now the government has decided that this ration will be made available to the children at their homes."
On the issue of teachers recruitment which is pending in the Supreme Court, the minister said, "We have got relief from the High Court. Now the issue is pending before the Supreme Court. I assume this recruitment process will be completed in the month of June."
The minister stressed that the Yogi government is specially focused on the basic education of children. After coning to power, the government started improving the infrastructure in schools -- construction of toilets, fencing, electrification -- all these things were taken up on a war footing. He said out of 1 lakh 69 thousand schools, all these works have been completed in 93 thousand schools. He expressed hope that before the end of this government's term, things will be far more improved in all the government schools of the state.
He informed that the government distributed new dresses, shoes, socks, sweaters to all the children who come to these schools. He said the government has also taken initiative to train the teachers for better output.
The government is also launching a campaign for smart classes in schools, he said, adding that 15,000 English medium schools were launched under the scheme.
He said, parents-teachers meeting was also started for continuous improvement of the children. "We also held fests and annual functions, for the first time inovernment schools which was praised by everyone," he said.
The minister said that a committee of mothers of the children was formed under the guidance of SDM to involve mothers in the education of their children.
Through CRR funds, we have launched a scheme for adoption of schools which will bring about all round development of children, the minister further said.