DW BUREAU / Shimla

Standards would be set for sending meritorious students of X and XII on exposure visits in India and abroad, state education minister Rohit Thakur said.

"It has been recommended to send 20 students each from class X and XII, including 10 students from sports, cultural activities, NCC, NSS and Bharat Scouts and Guides," a statement issued here said on Wednesday.

Presiding over a meeting of the education department, Thakur said that committed and dedicated teachers would be sent on exposure visits and a decision was also taken on shifting the buildings of rented colleges to the vacant buildings of merged schools.

He said teachers and officers on deputation to other states would be called back soon. He summoned the record of the teachers and officers who have been on deputation to other states for years.

Notices will be issued to such teachers and officers and they will be posted in Himachal Pradesh as soon as possible, he added.

Suggestions were also given regarding the rationalization of teachers and employees in the schools. There was also a proposal for organizing annual functions in schools before November 30 and annual functions in colleges by February 20, the statement read.

Directions were issued to study the model adopted by Assam, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat for increasing the strength of students in government schools. A presentation was also given by Samagra Shiksha on the performance of students of classes III, VI and IX in the National Achievement Survey. Under this survey recently 1.61 lakh students participated in an artificial intelligence-based examination conducted in 13,000 schools. He said that all the wings of the Education Department should work in coordination so that the corrective measures may be adopted for better results. Referring to the attendance of teachers in schools, the minister said that as of now teachers in 11,000 schools were registering their online attendance and all 15,000 schools will have bio-metric attendance by next month.

Meanwhile, online attendance of all students will also begin in a phased manner. Discussions were held on setting standards for giving awards to teachers and principals of colleges and starting new

subjects therein.
(editor@dailyworld.in)