Jaipur. Rajesh Kumar Yadav, Additional Chief Secretary, Elementary Education Department, organized a meeting at the Government Secretariat on Wednesday to review the security, basic facilities, enrolment, availability of textbooks and the condition of dilapidated school buildings in government schools across the state. Additional Chief Secretary Yadav said that all the government schools in the state have opened. In such a situation, dilapidated and unsafe school buildings should be re-surveyed in every district and safe seating arrangements for students should be ensured. If there is a security related problem in any school building, alternative arrangements should be made immediately. The building to which the students are shifted should also be technically inspected to ensure its safety. He instructed that if necessary, a nearby government school or other safe building should be used. If students have to be sent to another school, arrangements should be made for safe transportation, the expense of which will be borne by the state government. Apart from this, if necessary, the option of conducting the study in two shifts can also be adopted. He clearly said that under no circumstances should students be taught in an unsafe building or open space. A detailed report in this regard should be sent at the state level within three days.
In view of the rainy season, Yadav gave instructions to immediately inspect the roofs of all schools. He said that rain water should not accumulate on any roof and proper drainage system should be ensured. The roofs should be repaired as per requirement and it should also be ensured that water does not enter the foundation of the building. He directed that if any school building is found unsafe then the classes conducted there should be immediately shifted to the nearest government school, public building or other safe building.
He instructed all the districts to conduct safety audit and re-survey of the schools and send its report to the state level soon. He also said that demolition of dilapidated buildings should be done only on the holiday of students, so that there is no possibility of any kind of accident. To ensure the safety of students from poisonous animals in school premises and during heavy rains, students should not be allowed to go through drains or waterlogged roads.
Additional Chief Secretary directed that no kind of fake or unauthorized books should be used in schools. In private schools, only textbooks of fair price and high quality prescribed by the Rajasthan State Textbook Board should be used. Expensive books of private publishers should not be made mandatory in any school and private schools should also be ensured to completely follow the advisory of the state government.
In the meeting, instructions were also given to compulsorily implement the APAAR ID of students and to take immediate effective action on every complaint received related to admission under RTE.
Giving instructions to run a door-to-door contact campaign to ensure maximum enrollment in government schools, he said that enrollment of children should be increased by informing parents about free textbooks, uniforms, scholarships, mid-day meals, transport facilities where applicable and the benefits of other government schemes and special efforts should be made to prevent dropouts.
State Project Director and Commissioner Dr. Rashmi Sharma, Joint Secretary Mahendra Kumar Khinchi, OSD Education B.K. were present in the meeting. Gupta, Additional State Project Director-II Ashok Kumar Meena, Superintending Engineer Giriraj Gupta and senior officials of the department were present. Through video conferencing, Director of Elementary Education Sitaram Jat and concerned officers of all the districts also participated in the meeting.
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