The Hemant Soren government has already taken definitive steps towards providing quality education and converting government schools into model schools in keeping with the promise made by the chief minister.

The state government has already floated tenders for infrastructure upgradation of 27 identified model schools in each district. The upgrade work is scheduled to be completed by the first quarter of 2022 while refurbishing work of existing structures would be completed in the next few months.

"We have identified 27 district schools from across the state that will be developed as model schools in the first phase. All these schools will be affiliated to CBSE after refurbishing the infrastructure within a few months. Moving forward, infrastructure development in 53 more schools will be done and these will also be affiliated to CBSE by the first quarter of 2022,” director of higher education Shailesh Kumar Chourasia told The Telegraph Online.

He said in the second phase, 500 schools would be developed as a school of excellence under the Adarsh Vidyalaya Scheme’. “In the third phase, the state government plans to have model schools in each panchayat," added Chourasia, who is also director of Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC).

The target was to benefit lakhs of children in the coming future, he explained. The state government wants to make Adarsh Vidyalaya Scheme to be its flagship endeavour so that government schools are at par with national and international standards in terms of accessibility, equality and quality education.

"Model Schools will cater to students from the pre-primary level to class 12. There is a plan to admit 1,000 to 1,200 students to the proposed schools. Admission into these schools will be on merit through tests. For admission into the initial classes, the government plans to give priority to the children living near the school area," said an official in the chief minister's office.

The state government has plans to start “Aao Padhein Khoob Padhein”, a campaign to motivate students to read textbooks. Textbooks, story books, articles, etc, will be used as reading material for students to practice pronunciation and improve reading ability.

The state will also seek the help of various organisations working in the field of education, like NCERT, NEIP, to improve the English speaking ability of students. A dedicated language lab will also be operated in model schools to improve learning outcomes and it will also be used as a review mechanism tool.

"With the help of premier institutes of the country such as IIM, XLRI, NCERT, NEIP, principals and teachers deputed in model schools will be given focused training as per the national and international standards. We are looking to hone their administration skills. We have already started training the trainer exercise of selected teachers from February," Chourasia added.

To ensure student-centered teaching, subject-wise training will be provided to teachers. NCERT and DIETs will be made effective for training teachers. Besides, capacity development will be done through a continuous system of evaluation of teachers, improvement in the quality of schools through Rajya Shikshak Parivartan Dal (State Teacher Transformation Team), motivation camps and other programmes.