More incentive

Jorhat, Sept. 11: Dispur will construct residential quarters for teachers of schools in remote and relatively inaccessible areas to ensure maximum attendance that would help improve the quality of education there.

Sources in the education department told The Telegraph that the government planned to set up the quarters for teachers in the high and higher secondary schools, located in far-flung areas where communication was very limited because of difficult terrain, like the hills, chars and chaporis (sandbars).

They said the scheme would be funded through the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, the central mission for students of Classes IX to XII, launched in the state earlier this year.

The sources added that the quarters would be residential clusters with accommodation for teachers of all schools in a particular area. Preference would be given to female teachers.

In remote places that were difficult to reach because of poor transport services, the teachers and headmasters faced a lot of problems, with female teachers bearing the brunt.

As rented accommodation was always not easily available in such areas, the quarters would not only be of immense help to the teachers, but also act as incentives when it came to transfers.

The state has a large population living in char and chapori areas with low literacy levels and teachers have to travel by country boats and cross several streams to reach their place of work. Hence, such a project would be able to give a boost to the education scenario in these areas.

Sources said Dispur had, a few years ago, asked the districts to find out whether there was any such school in a district and prepare proposals for them to be included in the perspective education plan, having a vision till 2020.

With the launch of the central mission early this year, the government had asked the districts to include such proposals in the district annual work plan.

The annual work plan of the districts has been submitted to the Centre through the state government and is awaiting sanction.

Jayanta Narlokar, the first permanent director of the mission in Assam, who assumed charge last week, told The Telegraph from Delhi today that proposals from districts where there was need for providing boarding facilities to outstation teachers in schools had been submitted to the Centre.

He said funds had been sought for the same from the Centre under the head of infrastructure development of schools through the mission.

Inspector of schools (Jorhat), Kamal Jyoti Gogoi, said in the district, about 10 schools on Majuli island and its adjoining chaporis, where teachers came from outside, would benefit from the plan.

According to the mission guidelines, a district board of secondary education has been formed in each district. The deputy commissioner is the chairman and the inspector of schools is the district programme coordinator of the board.

The board comprises all the MLAs and MPs of the district, chairman of the municipal body, head of any autonomous council (if any) in the district, executive engineer of public works department and heads of some other government departments.