SORENG, : Chief Minister PS Golay on Tuesday maintained that the 13% budget allocated by the State government this year for the education sector remained the highest as compared to the budget sanctioned for other sectors. He further informed that the State government aims to accomplish a 100% literacy rate by 2027 through comprehensive educational initiatives.
He was addressing the students and public during the final day of golden jubilee celebratory event of Sawali Gaon government secondary school under Soreng district.
In his address, the Chief Minister emphasised that it was possible to achieve 100% literacy in Sikkim with the support and coordination from the Education department, educators and the parents as well. “Our mission is to make Sikkim a 100% literate State by 2027 and the Education department, teachers and parents have to play a larger role to accomplish the mission. The development of education sector and making the sector easily accessible to each and every Sikkimese remain the State government's priority,” he said.
Golay shared that the literacy rate of Sikkim presently is 90.8% with the 93% male and 88% female literacy rate. He added that with the holistic and effective educational initiatives, achieving 100% literacy rate in Sikkim by 2027 was possible.
The Chief Minister also announced to introduce a pilot project called ‘Q&I’ from this year in the government school across Sikkim for XI and XII students, eager to pursue their higher education in engineering and medical sciences or wanted to appear for competitive examinations.
The‘Q&I’are similar to coaching classes designed for the students eager to crack competitive entrance examinations such as JEE, NIIT, IIT and others.
Golay maintained that introduction of the pilot educational project 'Q&I' in the government school, which is costly, would facilitate the students to access the facility even for the students coming from any financial background.
“Coaching facilities like 'Q&I' are expensive and introducing such educational initiatives in the school will enable each and every student to be the part of the initiative free of cost. It will be helpful for the students coming from poor backgrounds to gain from the 'Q&I' facility who cannot afford the costly coaching facility,” he said.
He announced that if 'Q&I' initiative becomes successful, then the State government would extend such a facility to the students of class IX and X as well.
The Chief Minister reiterated that the State government has worked committedly and comprehensively for the education sector’s growth and development. Effective educational policies framed by the government have driven the sector on the path of holistic development, he said. He called the educational facility in Sikkim 'qualitative' and the best in the country and expressed that a healthy 1:9 teacher student ratio has been maintained to ensure a healthy educational environment.
“There is no dearth of school heads as under the previous SDF government. The present State government has prioritized the deployment of the school heads as per the needs in different schools across Sikkim,” said Golay. He shared that a fresh interview for the school heads has been conducted very recently and the selected teachers would fill up the vacant post of school heads wherever needed.
Calling the policy framed for the probationary teachers in the best interests of such teachers, Golay appealed them not to seek transfers for the time being and expressed that the schools especially of rural areas such as Karzi, Mangnam and others would be without educators if the teachers serving in rural areas opt for transfers.
The Chief Minister directed the Education department to do the needful on the demands placed by the school management committee which included construction of 6-roomed school building and auditorium and renaming the school in the name of the land donor Late Harka Bahadur Khati.
The golden jubilee celebration also witnessed felicitation of the land donor’s family and other individuals as an acknowledgement of their contributions in the various fields of the society.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister also unveiled the bust of land donor Late Harka Bahadur Khati.