West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu on Thursday said the government is committed to improving the academic standards of state-run and state-aided schools and bridging the gap between English and Bengali medium institutes.
Talking to reporters after a workshop of headmasters and headmistresses at the leadership development programme by IIM Calcutta here, he said the government is keen on enhancing the communication skills of vernacular-medium students.
"We are working with UNICEF to upgrade the standard of state-run schools by introducing subjects outside their curriculum. We want to bring back students to government schools from English-medium institutes," the minister said.
He said achievements of students in state-run and state-aided schools have always made the state proud "nationally and internationally".
The minister said the state has set the target of 100 per cent GER (gross enrolment ratio) for students at secondary and higher secondary levels by 2030.
"Headmasters and headmistresses are involved in day-to-day operations of schools. While 985 school heads were trained at a programme conducted in collaboration with IIM Calcutta in the first phase, another 626 were trained in the second phase," he added.
The minister said as part of the objective of the state education policy, the leadership development programme envisaged introduction of shishu samsad, promotion of reading habits, among others.
On agitations by different teacher organisations, he said, "While the government supported all democratic movements by teachers in support of their demands, the protests should not come in the way of imparting lessons to students in educational institutions." "I am not naming any particular movement. But when teachers become part of a prolonged street agitation, one has to see if it is affecting clasroom education. Agitation as part of democracy will always be there, but one must be careful about exercising the rights," Basu said.
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