Kapil Sibal and Nitish Kumar

Patna, Dec. 1: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today categorically stated that education comes under the state list and the central government should not interfere with this subject.

Nitish, without taking the name of Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said, “The Centre should not interfere with education which is in the state list.” The chief minister was referring to the Centre’s decision to open model schools in each block of the state.

According to the Centre’s decision, 410 model schools will be opened in the state under the National Scheme for Secondary Education. The Union government will bear 75 per cent of the expenditure of the project while the state government will bear the remaining 25 per cent. Each school will be constructed on an area of 5 acres and will be equipped with basic infrastructure, including modern facilities.

The chief minister said the state government could open four high schools with the money estimated to be spent on these model schools. Nitish said: “The Centre should provide funds and leave it on us to decided what type of schools we want to set up.” He, however, admitted that the state has to depend on the funds provided by the Centre. “We are left with no other options but to go with what the Centre decides,” Nitish said.

The Centre’s decision aims at providing quality education to students, particularly in rural areas, so that they do not lag behind students from urban centres. According to the scheme, meritorious students will be admitted in the school through entrance test. Each school will be built at a cost of Rs 3.07 crore and schools will be set in educationally backward areas.

The chief minister also asked the HRD minister P.K. Shahi and HRD principal secretary Anjani Kumar Singh to introduce a mechanism under which they can check the dropout rate of students at university level.

Nitish said: “Bihar’s annual budget is Rs 63,000 crore, out of which the state spends Rs 10,000 crore on education alone. We have to introduce a mechanism if the money being spent on education is yielding the desired result.”

The chief minister reiterated his commitment to quality education. His pledge assumes importance as in his second term, Nitish has tried to give more focus on quality education.

In September, the Bihar Government has started “Samjhen Sikhen” programme with a focus to provide quality education.

Under this programme, an eight-minute documentary focusing on how to improve the quality education for the students in the state would be screened in all the schools in the districts.

As part of “Samajhe Sikhen” programme, now teachers in government schools will have to keep an assessment record of students on regular basis. Based on these assessments, the teachers will prepare a portfolio of students and monitor his/her learning graph.

The CM has also said the government will focus on promoting English education so that the students from rural areas can face the modern world challenges with competence and confidence.