Terming the third phase of Gunotsav a dramatic success, Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed that 20 pc of the schools in the State have got A+ grade this time. The third phase of Gunotsav was held in January this year in thirteen districts of the State.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Sarma said, “We have seen a dramatic improvement in the result of the schools’ performance in the third phase. In the first phase, 777 schools got A+ grade which was 6 pc of the total schools while in the second phase, 1,672 schools got A+ grade, making it 9 pc of the total schools. But in the third phase, the improvement has been vast as 3,575 schools got A+ grade, making it 20 pc.”
A total of 11,76, 995 students from 17,869 schools participated in the third phase of Gunotsav. Among them, 7,063 schools got A grade, 4,903 got B grade, 1808 got C grade and 520 got D grade.
Sarma said in the course of the Gunotsav, four lakh ‘fake’ students were detected. “Earlier, we had data about 41 lakh students in Assam. But after Gunotsav, we found out that the figure is 37 lakh. That means, 4 lakh students don’t exist,” he said.
Regarding the problems faced by the schools identified in Gunotsav, Education Minister Sarma said, “A total of 10,000 schools need partition. Due to lack of partition or wall, several classes are held in the same room. While 1379 schools require toilets, 34, 165 other schools don’t have power connection. A proposal for Rs 1962 crore would be sought from the Finance Department to fix these issues prior to the next Gunotsava.”
Sarma was also elated with the fact that 28,000 new students have been enrolled in the government schools. However, when asked about many students from government schools shifting to private schools, the minister said, “Well, we will bring a Bill on private schools in the Assembly. We’ll discuss over the Bill in the Cabinet meeting to be held on March 7. I wouldn’t like to say anything about the Bill before that.”