padding up: AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies

Patna, Aug. 25: AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies in collaboration with National Council of Rural Institutes (NCRI), Hyderabad, will host a three-day-long convention next year on steps needed for the revival of basic education in the schools of the state. A preparatory meeting for the convention was held today.

The convention, the second of its kind in the country, will be held from February 1 to 3. The first one was held in New Delhi this year.

At the meet, delegates and academicians will focus on the steps needed for the revival of 391 basic education schools in the state with thrust on skill development.

The preparatory meeting was attended by Sudarshan Iyengar, the vice-chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, Bhavna Joshi, the co-ordinator of Nai Talim, NCIR, Vijoy Prakash, the principal secretary of the state department of planning and development, D.M. Diwakar, the director AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, and others.

Diwakar told The Telegraph: “It is a great initiative by the institute to hold such a big conference, where academicians from all over the country would be participating. The importance of the convention is evident from the fact that the state government has given special thrust on skill development education. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has started a number of skill development schemes.”

Sources said there are 391 basic education schools in Bihar. Of these, most had degraded, as neither the state nor the central government had taken any interest to revive them.

Mahatma Gandhi developed the concept of basic education schools. He always linked education with employment and insisted that an educated person should not be unemployed. So, he emphasised on the development on skills.

The first basic education school in the country was set up in Champaran in 1954. These schools generally cater to the needs of children belonging to economically backward sections of the society, who do not have the access to education in regular institutes.