Union minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani has asked all states and Union Territories to lay special focus on education for girls and create a conducive environment for girls to go to schools and complete their education.
Speaking of the government’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Abhiyan during the Conference of State Education Secretaries in New Delhi today, Irani also asked all state government schools to prepare an action plan for construction of toilets. This is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal for providing all government schools with toilets within a year.
The HRD minister also launched the programme ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat’ which aims at early reading, writing and comprehensive and early grade mathematics. Irani has sought the co-operation of every state to adopt this programme to make the children skilled. An amount of Rs 2,352.57 crore has been allocated for the year 2014-15 to the states and UTs for the improvement of quality programmes.
The conference also witnessed the launch of “Including Children with Special Needs- Primary Stage”, a Curriculum Adaptation Development publication brought out by the NCERT to help teachers create a classroom environment for children with special needs. The minister noted that though considerable progress had been made in bringing such children into regular schools, providing a truly inclusive education remained an unfinished agenda.
The website of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan was also launched during the conference for greater public participation and awareness.
