A CLASS APART
On October 14, Arunachal Pradesh finance minister Chowna Mein tabled a Comptroller and Auditor General of India ( CAG) report in the state assembly. The report said Arunachal Pradesh had failed to achieve the target of providing free and compulsory education to every child even six years after the implementation of the Right to Education ( RTE) Act. It also said that the mapping of schools and survey of households for identifying children eligible for elementary education had not been carried out. Moreover, at
“The state government is laying emphasis on quality education. Every effort will be made to address the manpower shortage and infrastructure problems.” PEMA KHANDU Chief Minister, Arunachal Pradesh
the end of March 2016, the number of children out of school stood at 57,032— 26,009 children who were not enrolled and 31,023 children who had dropped out. This constituted 18 per cent of the 312,255 eligible children in 2015- 16.
Patiently going through the report, Pema Khandu, who at age 38 is the country’s youngest chief minister, decided to take some corrective measures immediately. The CAG’s rap aside, Arunachal Pradesh had a better student- classroom ratio of 10 than the nation ( 18.42). But Khandu, an alumnus of the Hindu College in Delhi University, did not want to rest on the glory of such statistics. He held several rounds of late night meetings with various stakeholders in the state’s education system and ordered officials to prepare a blueprint for reform.
Within 10 days, he approved the creation of 1,309 teaching and nonteaching posts under the education department. Of the 1,309 posts, 1,130 are solely for teaching staff, including 349 science and mathematics teachers. The CAG report had highlighted a 42 per cent shortfall in science and mathematics teachers in the state till March 2016.
Besides these posts, 57 new posts of teaching staff under the State Council of Education Research and Training ( SCERT), District Institute of Education and Training ( DIET) and Block Institutes of Teacher Education( BITE) have been created. Another 55 non- teaching staff positions have been created for SCERT, DIET and BITE. The council of ministers also approved 18 new posts under the Directorate of Elementary Education.
On October 16, the Arunachal Pradesh assembly passed the Kameng Professional and Technical University Arunachal Pradesh Bill 2017 ( Amended). The bill paved the way for establishing a private university at Bhalukpong in West Kameng district, a longstanding demand of the state.
On November 9, taking note of the shortage of teachers in several government colleges, Khandu announced that the government had created 130 posts for teaching and non- teaching staff in 29 higher education institutes. “The state government is laying emphasis on quality education. Every effort will be made to address manpower shortage and infrastructure problems,” he said.