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Spreading education a priority for Haryana CM

Rajesh Ahuja

"The poor and those living in remote parts of the State should benefit"

Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda

CHANDIGARH: The transformation is visible on the educational front in Haryana from the primary to the higher education level thanks to the systemic changes initiated during the last two years, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda told The Hindu in an exclusive interview.

However, he added that only a beginning had been made and much more was still needed to be done to bring the level of education at par with global standards.

Mr.Hooda asserted that his regime had massively raised the annual budget for education so that even the poorest of the poor and those living in the remotest corners of the State benefited. The focus was on opening of more schools and upgrading the existing ones besides repairing the existing infrastructure.

He revealed that when he took over as Chief Minister, many middle, high and senior secondary schools were without power connections. Now, these schools had been provided electricity, he added. His regime had taken the initiative to provide separate toilets for girls and boys and dual desks had been purchased for proper and comfortable seating of the students. The emphasis was on upgradation of science labs in schools and buying new equipment to improve quality of practical work and inculcate scientific temper.

Mr.Hooda said that one senior secondary school in each of the 20 districts was being developed as a model school with English medium teaching, specially qualified staff, computer, science labs and a well-stocked library. He added that the teacher-student ratio had been brought down from 1:50 to 1:40 in the government schools.

He asserted that his Government's initiative to launch EDUSAT had been widely welcomed and appreciated by the Centre. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be launching the programme on May 19 at a function in Hisar, he added.

EDUSAT would provide uniform, good quality curriculum teaching in all state government colleges,senior secondary schools, technical institutes and primary schools.

The introduction of semester system from Class Six to 12 had yielded rich dividends as it provided continuous and comprehensive evaluation by the teachers.

Another unique initiative was to improve the employability and skill base of students in schools and colleges by empowering them with special communication skills. Moreover, free computer education was being imparted to school students in class Six to 12.

Mr.Hooda disclosed that he had directed the Education Department to change its focus from conventional education to technical education so that the students could compete in a global scenario. The number of seats in technical institutes had been increased to 40,000 as the goal was to have a trained manpower of 1.5 lakh people by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan.

The Chottu Ram Engineering College, Murthal had been upgraded to Deenbandhu Chottu Ram University of Science and Technology.

Another achievement would be the setting up of "Nano City'' near Panchkula which would be the "intellectual capital in the future''.

Replying to a question regarding Higher Education, he said that Haryana had become the first state in Northern India to establish a state university exclusively for women. And to provide healthy competition in quality education and attract private investment, a Haryana Private Universities

Act was recently enacted. Mr.Hooda added that the process to set up world- class Rajiv Gandhi Education City at Kundli (Sonepat) was already underway.

Institutions of excellence in higher learning and research will be invited to set up their campuses in the Education City so that students could avail education in emerging fields like bio-technology,nano-technology and information technology.

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Spreading education a priority for Haryana CM

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