Guwahati: On Thursday, i.e. April 1, 2010, the State Government of Assam has announced the allotment of an amount as hefty as Rs 40 billion in order to boost the state's primary and middle school level education. It said an estimated 26,000 teachers will be appointed and around 20,000 schools will be set up in the next five years.
As part of the ambitious plan, the student - teacher ratio would be 30:1 - an additional 20,733 teachers would be appointed in primary schools, while 5,177 teachers would be recruited for the upper primary schools. Moreover, the dropout rate in Assam at the primary school level is a staggering 26.5 percent.
Mr Tarun Gogoi, Chief Minister (CM) of Assam has told reporters that Under the Right to Education provision, the state government has decided to have one primary school in a radius of one kilometer and an upper primary school in a radius of three kilometers. He said that the whole idea is to give the state's education sector, especially at the primary and upper primary level, a big boost. Further, he emphasized on the need to concentrate on human resource development.
Mr Gogoi also mentioned that due to lack of primary schools or facilities, including inadequate teachers, parents often take their children out of schools and let them help or work for the family. When the parents will see these changes and schools in their neighbourhood, certainly they will get inspiration to let their children study.
