Children present a cultural programme on National Education Day at SK Memorial Hall in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Education minister Brishen Patel on Tuesday announced that 2 lakh contract teachers would be appointed soon to bridge the student-teacher ratio in the government schools.

He said: “When the NDA government came to power in the state led by Nitish Kumar in 2005, there were around 2 lakh teachers at the different government schools. The government since then recruited 2.47 lakh teachers. But to bridge the gap of students-teachers ratio even more, 2 lakh teachers would be recruited soon.”

Patel was speaking at SK Memorial on National Education Day, an occasion to mark the birth anniversary of the country’s first education minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Though he refused to give a time frame for the work, sources in the education department said the recruitment would start by year-end.

The minister also claimed that the government would take necessary steps to build confidence among the contract teachers for the administration. Senior officials would analyse salaries of contract teachers in the other states for that, he added.

Around 3.85 lakh contract teachers working in 72,000 schools in Bihar have time and again protested for parity in salary among other demands.

On Tuesday, too, several contract teachers demonstrated at SK Memorial Hall for an increase in salary but that was long after Patel left the venue.

Patel earlier said: “After studying the salaries of contract teachers in other states, the government would take steps to increase the salary of the contract teachers in Bihar.”

He also said the government was committed to improve the standard of education according to the Right to Education Act (RTE), but it required financial assistance from the Centre for that.

Apart from promises and demands, awards were also given out at Tuesday’s event. The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Education Award, the state’s highest literacy award, was presented to Mohammed Galib, assistant director, directorate of mass education, Kavita Kumari (government teacher at Supaul) and Dinesh Mehta (retired teacher from Sitamarhi). The award carried a memento, a certificate and Rs 2 lakh. The Bihar Gaurav Samman was given to 11 students for their remarkable performance in different competitive examinations.

Kavita Kumari, who secured the first rank in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research examination, was among the students presented the Bihar Gaurav Samman.