Kolkata, May 18: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday said his government would make maximum efforts to improve infrastructure in state-run educational institutions.
He said although education is a fundamental right, government-run educational institutions, on which 90 per cent of the state’s population depend, are lagging behind private institutions in terms of competition and facilities.
“While I will seek the advancement of private educational institutions, we will give maximum effort to improve the infrastructure of the government-run institutions,” the chief minister said while addressing meritorious students who passed the class 10 and 12 board examinations with high scores.
Adhikari said the government had decided to implement the National Education Policy soon after assuming office in the state.
“We will set up smart schools and smart classrooms, impart modern education, provide state-of-the-art laboratories and libraries, and develop playgrounds,” he said, outlining the government’s plans for improving state-run educational institutions.
He said political appointments in educational institutions had been cancelled as part of efforts to depoliticise the sector.
“We have decided to take steps to address the shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff to ensure students get the benefits of education,” he said.
The chief minister said special initiatives would be undertaken for improvement of school infrastructure, syllabus and the quality of the Samagra Shiksha Mission (SSM) project in the state that is funded by the central government and run by the state.
“We will also make arrangements for the development of high-skilled, skilled and semi-skilled manpower,” he said.
Addressing the 221 meritorious students of the state, BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said India has shown the world the light of education.
“We have taught the world astro-science, geometry and trigonometry,” he said.
“We have become oblivious of our rich past; some people subjugated us and made us believe that Aryans came from outside to educate us,” Bhattacharya said.
The BJP state president said that excavations at Haryana’s Rakhigarhi, one of the largest known sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation, have proved that the theory is a myth.
Bhattacharya said the young generation should know that they were born in a country which shared the light of knowledge with the rest of the world.
He also claimed that systems such as ballot paper voting and human rights were first introduced in Indian kingdoms.
