Soon NCERT curriculum in government primary schools: Yogi

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who launched ‘School Chalo Abhiyan’ and Dastak movement (JE/AES prevention programme), at Siddharth Nagar, Gorakhpur and Deoria on Monday, said the state government is planning to introduce NCERT curriculum to improve quality of education in government-run-primary schools (class 1 to 8).

Till now UP Board text books are taught in these schools and students preparing for competitions have to read NCERT text books separately. The curriculum will be applicable from next academic session as books have not been purchased yet, sources in Basic Shiksha department told HT.

“It is responsibility of the government to educate its people. For the betterment of students in primary schools we have decided to introduce NCERT curriculum,” said Yogi while addressing a public meeting in Siddharth Nagar after launching the two programmes. He also inaugurated a newly constructed 100 bed maternity ward at district hospital and laid foundation stones of 34 projects worth Rs 52 crores.

He also told the crowd that the government had approved construction of a medical college at Siddharth Nagar and an official announcement will be made soon.

The CM appreciated efforts of those government officials who had adopted and developed schools. He urged public representatives and other government officials to follow suit. Yogi, who distributed school dresses, books and shoes to children, said that under his government 1.54 crore children had enrolled in primary schools last year.

Elaborating about the Dastak scheme, the CM said it was launched in association with Unicef with an aim to check deaths caused by encephalitis by raising awareness about the disease, its causes and prevention. He asked people to contribute for the success of the fortnight-long Dastak programme by getting children between the age group of 5 to 15 years vaccinated under the scheme.

“A large number of children are affected by encephalitis in Gorakhpur and Basti. Don’t they have a right to live,” he said. The chief minister said over 92 lakh children in 38 districts of UP were vaccinated against Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and 86,000 students who had missed the vaccination will be covered this time.

Later speaking at Pipraich, the CM claimed that mortality rate due to encephalitis had come down from 25% earlier to 11% in 2017 and said it had to be brought down further to 0%.

He also told the crowd that over 1000 students had enrolled in schools on the first day of ‘School Chalo Abhiyan.’

Yogi also visited a dalit slum in Subhashnagar and took stock of sanitation arrangement. He also laid foundation stones of 13 projects and inaugurated three projects.

CM SUSPENDS CMO, FOUR COPS FOR LAXITY

Cracking the whip against officials for laxity in discharging their duties, chief minister Yogi Adityanath suspended Siddharth Nagar CMO Dr Ved Prakash Sharma, SHO Itwa Anil Kumar, S-I Itwa and two police constables on Monday.

District magistrate Siddharth Nagar Kunal S Ilku also reportedly faced the ire of CM for administration’s failure on various fronts.

As per reports, action against the CMO was taken when he failed to give satisfactory reply to the CM over his failure to ensure door-to-door encephalitis vaccination under ‘Dastak Abhiyan.’ Action against police officials came on the complaint of a local woman—Geeta Devi— who managed to attract Yogi’s attention by waving a piece of paper while sitting among the audience during his public meeting in Siddharth Nagar. The CM called Geeta Devi on the stage and she told him that her neighbour was not letting her raise a wall on her piece of land. When she complained to the police, they did not take action and forced her to put a thumb impression on a sulahnama (agreement). On her complaint, the CM issued suspension orders of four cops and asked the SP to resolve her issues.

Speaking later to media, on the issue of ‘Bharat Bandh’, Yogi said his government had sympathy with the Dalits and added ‘spreading anarchy and disruption in the name of protest is not right.’