Teachers must strive to provide quality education to their pupils at all times: Bihar CM

Teachers play a crucial role in shaping the society and they must strive to impart quality education to students at all times, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Friday. He also stressed the need for educating girls, as that would, in effect, "check population growth".

"The Bihar government has been consistently working towards providing best-possible education to the students of the state. The government has also decided to increase the budget allocation for the sector from 21 per cent to 25 percent of the total budget," said the Chief Minister at an event organised to mark the birth anniversary of India's first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Mr Kumar also warned of action against teachers who fail to perform their duties.

"Teachers play a crucial role in shaping the society. Therefore, they must strive to provide quality education to their pupils at all times. Action will be taken against them if they fail to perform their duties," he said. The Chief Minister also pointed out that "if a girl is matriculate, the fertility rate on an average comes down to 2 per cent, and if she has completed school education, it further falls to 1.7 per cent".

In Bihar, the fertility rate is 1.6 per cent, less than the national average, he added. On Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the Chief Minister said, "He (Azad) was a scholar, educationist, and freedom fighter who played an instrumental role in the development of the education system of independent India. He, like Mahatma Gandhiji, knew that Hindu-Muslim unity was very necessary for freedom of India and worked for this... We must build tolerance and respect towards different faiths."

The CM, on the occasion, launched a book comprising guidelines for ditching school bags on Saturday. Saturdays will soon be a 'bagless' day in all the government schools of the state, said Dipak Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary, education department.