No-bag day in HP Board schools soon

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, November 19

Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, who chaired a meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBSE) here today, announced major changes in the syllabus of schools functioning under it.

Addressing a press conference, Bhardwaj said “Independence Movement” chapter in books of the HPBSE has been changed and brought under the title “Bhartiya Pratirodh (Indian resistance) and history of Independence Movement”.

“As announced in its vision document, the Board will include vedic mathematics, yoga, Sanskrit and music in its syllabus from the next academic year. Sanskrit will be taught from Class II,” Bhardwaj said.

He said the Board had decided to eradicate dummy admissions in schools. “All schools will be under strict surveillance. If any school is found to have indulged in dummy admissions, its affiliation will be cancelled,” he said.

To check copying during examinations, Bhardwaj said the Board had decided to keep one invigilator for 25 students. Earlier, one invigilator used to keep an eye on 40 students.

Students opting for re-evaluation would be given an option to keep any pre or post-evaluation marks in their mark sheets. “Students who do not apply for re-evaluation in time will have to give affidavits, saying their names will not be included in merit lists,” he said.

Bhardwaj said the Board had saved Rs3 crore in publishing of books in the past two years. “The paper that was earlier being procured for Rs79,000 per MT to publish books is now being procured for Rs29,000 per MT,” he said.

He said the Board was also planning to introduce one bag-free day for students. “It has been observed that happiness quotient in students coming to schools is low. To improve it, the Board has decided to introduce one bag-free day. The activities to be carried out on bag-free days such as music, yoga or skill development lessons will be finalised soon,” he said.

The minister said since Sanskrit was the second language of Himachal, the Board was taking an initiative to have name plates of all its officials in Sanskrit besides Hindi.

The minister claimed that in the past two years, the current government had recruited 7,300 teachers against 6,000 recruited by the Congress government during its entire tenure.