UP Board’s ‘Mission Gaurav’ events take a backseat

PRAYAGRAJ : The UP Board’s plans to conduct events between April 2021 and March 2022 under “Mission Gaurav” to commemorate its centenary year are yet to kick-start. The Board has so far not even announced the schedule of events that it plans to hold as part of the year-long celebrations.

High school and intermediate exams in the face of rising Covid-19 cases and scheduled Panchayat elections in the state are being attributed as the reasons for delay in conducting the events, according to a senior Board official on condition of anonymity.

UP Board officials, however, maintain that preparations are underway to launch a new portal for “Mission Gaurav” and entries for the logo and slogan writing contests will be sought again. At present, the entire employees are busy in preparations for the high school and intermediate exams and therefore the events related to “Mission Gaurav” will be held only after the board exams. Instructions were issued to all the Joint Directors (Education), Additional Secretaries of the Regional Offices of UP Board, Deputy Directors (Education) and District Inspectors of Schools (DIOSs) regarding the centenary celebrations of UP Board in the first week of December. UP Board secretary Divya Kant Shukla had asked all DIOSs to meet with the principals of UP Board affiliated schools of their respective districts and compile a list of eminent alumni and register them on the UP Board’s portal so that they could then be felicitated at a special function.

The UP Board had even asked the principals of affiliated schools to get these lists of eminent alumni ready region-wise and make it available to UP Board through respective DIOSs—however this process is still in limbo, concede senior UP Board officials requesting anonymity. An online logo and slogan writing competition was also held between December 28, 2020 and January 4, 2021, as part of UP Board’s centenary year celebrations. The best three entries in separate categories at the division-level were selected and sent to UP Board Headquarters by January 9. But the winner of this competition is yet to be announced by the board till date.