West Bengal has allocated ₹38,241 crore for school education, establishing a benchmark among states by directing significant fund of social expenditure towards the education sector, stated Mr Binod Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of School Education on the second day (9th November) of the Education East Summit 2024, organized by CII Eastern Region. He emphasized that inclusivity, accessibility, and excellence are the cornerstone of an effective education system.
Talking about different schemes of education ecosystem of the state, he mentioned about Kanyashree Prakalpa, Sabuj Sathi, Taruner Swapno and Utkarsh Bangla. Highlighting, West Bengal Student Credit Card Scheme, he made the audience aware about the fact that more than 62,000 students have so far been sanctioned for this loan with aggregate loan amounting more than Rs. 2,000 crores. Riding on the fact that the Pupil – Teacher Ratio(PTR) for the primary school in West Bengal has been 30:1, he pointed out action for the teachers to take care of the mental health of the students.
Prof (Dr) Indrani Bhaduri, CEO & Head, PARAKH, NCERT, stated that NEP 2020 is a futuristic and progressive policy and approximately there are 430 million youth, who are below 25 years in India are required to educate and train them for their future. Highlighting PARAKH, she said that it recommended credit framework in wholistic progress card for the secondary, which is linked to the equivalence report, to how the credits to be given to different board exams.
100 per cent gross enrollment rate at the secondary level is a necessary condition for attaining developed nation status by 2047 underscored Mr Pradip K Agarwal, CEO, Heritage Group of Institutions.
Technological intervention brings a multi-dimensional facet in education said Mr Ujjal Chakraborti, Executive In-Charge – Tinplate Division, Tata Steel Limited. Highlighting that the literacy rate of West Bengal has been close to 80 per cent, he said that education will be imperative to the Viksit Bharat.
The two-day summit witnessed huge number of relevant stakeholders of the state education industry.