Chief minister Nitish Kumar greets World Bank official Michael Haney in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, June 13: The Bihar government has approached World Bank for a loan to impart training to teachers in government schools, chief minister Nitish Kumar said today.

“In its effort to provide quality education in government schools, the state government has sent a proposal to World Bank for approval of a project for training school teachers. Under the proposal, the World Bank will share 70 per cent of the total cost, while 30 per cent will be borne by the state government,” the chief minister said while inaugurating a three-day conference, Use of Information Communication and Technology and Open Distance Learning in Teacher Education, at a city hotel.

Bihar is the first state in the country to approach the Bank for assistance regarding teacher training. Michael Haney, the operations advisor for World Bank in India who was present at the conference, said: “The Bihar government has sent a proposal to World Bank which was forwarded to us by the Union finance ministry. There is high possibility that the Bihar government will get the approval for the project by the end of this year.”

Sources in the education department said the total project cost is around Rs 1,600 crore. Nitish said his government was committed to improving the quality of education in the state. “There is a shortage of trained teachers in the state and after the implementation of Right to Education (RTE) Act, we are bound to provide quality education to students. The student-teacher ratio has to be 30: 1,” he said. At present, the student-teacher ratio is 56:1.

After the implementation of RTE, the government had sought the help of the Centre to provide assistance in teacher training programmes. The state signed an agreement with Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) in 2006 for providing training to 40,000 teachers in government schools. However, the quality of education still leaves a lot to be desired.

Nitish said his Seva Yatra covering 18 districts had revealed that in spite of the schemes launched by the government, student attendance in government schools was not satisfactory.

“Still 50 to 60 per cent of students in government schools are not attending classes which raises a big question,” the chief minister said. “Despite an enrolment rate of over 90 per cent in government schools, students are not attending classes.” Maybe, Nitish tried to reason, the pattern of teaching provided by teachers is not updated or it is monotonous for students. Hence, he argued, there is a need for updated training for teachers.

Amarjeet Sinha, the newly appointed principal secretary, education, said the challenge was to ensure attendance in schools. “We have worked hard in quantity education with construction of school buildings, classrooms and other infrastructure, but the challenge is to provide quality education with focus on retention of students in classrooms,” he said.