Students of Xavier School, Gamharia, perform at XITE on Thursday. Baidyanath Ram (above) launched a four-storied undergraduate block, built for an estimated Rs 7 crore, that will offer BCA, BCom and BBA courses, at XITE. (Bhola Prasad)

Jamshedpur, Aug. 2: The human resource development (HRD) department is eager to ride on the support of private players to step up quality of education in Jharkhand.

State HRD minister Baidyanath Ram, who was in the city for the inauguration of an undergraduate block of Xavier Institute for Tribal Education (XITE) at Gamharia, said the government was scouring for private partners for opening schools across Jharkhand on public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

“We have already signed MoUs with two private varsities — Rai University for setting up a Jharkhand Rai University and Sai Nath University — both in Ranchi for offering quality higher education so that students do not have to go to faraway destinations. The varsities will be start functioning by this year on PPP mode. Schools are next on our agenda,” said Ram.

The minister admitted that absence of enough quality teachers had resulted in poor results in the last few years. He stressed that the government was keen on filling teacher vacancies by the year-end.

“The screening tests for filling vacancies in high schools and intermediate level is underway. Six teachers will be recruited in every high school and intermediate college. Similarly, exams have been planned by the department for filling vacancies in middle and primary schools,” he added.

The minister also said that promotion policies for school headmasters, headmistresses had been relaxed so that a large number of qualified and experienced teachers were promoted to the rank of principal.