The Tripura Government has decided to revive the Vidyalaya Chalo Abhiyan (Let’s Go to School) and, as part of it, has established a new scheme, “Earn with Learn”, to re-enroll students who had dropped out of school following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The ‘Earn with Learn’ initiative of Tripura Education Department would involve third-year students from all colleges in conducting surveys to detect dropouts across classes.
Backdrop
According to Tripura Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath, during the COVID-19 outbreak, about 9,000 students aged 6 to 14 from Classes I to VIII dropped out of 4,300 schools across the state and are yet to return.
The Government attempted to bring back dropouts in 2020 by implementing the Vidyalaya Chalo Abhiyan, which was first started in 2009, but was unable to make any progress due to the pandemic.
Highlights of the Initiatives:
i. To ensure the success of the initiative, the new education policy has specific guidelines for conducting a comprehensive door-to-door survey in Tripura to identify dropouts and migrant students.
- It also mandates to prepare an action plan to prevent increased dropouts, lower enrolment, loss of learning, and deterioration of the gains made in providing universal access, quality, and equity.
ii.College students who are willing to volunteer for the survey as part of the “Earn with Learn” initiative have to register their names with their individual institutions.
- The Government would give each college student Rs. 500 per admission as honorarium for identifying and re-enrolling such dropouts, and an estimated 10,000 volunteers would be needed to carry out the programme.
iii. Anganwadi and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers will also be involved in identifying dropouts. School teachers can also participate by volunteering, for which they would get an honorarium of Rs. 200 for each child under the programme.
Governmental Efforts in Tripura to Guarantee Education in Schools:
i. Currently, all government schools in Tripura serve mid-day meals to students from class-one to eight, totalling over 4.1 lakh children across the state.
ii.The Tripura Education Department will launch a nutritious breakfast scheme in the aspirational district of Dhalai as a pilot project, covering 51,688 school students from class I to VIII with a budget of Rs 5.94 crore per year.
iii. Additionally, it intends to provide school bags to every student enrolled in government and government-aided schools from nursery to Class II. The department will also provide bicycles to each girl student who gets promoted to Class X.
Tripura Government Transfers CS Kumar Alok To SIPARD; J K Sinha Designated Acting Chief Secretary
The Tripura Government has transferred Chief Secretary (CS) Kumar Alok to the State Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development (SIPARD), Tripura, as its Director General (DG).
- In addition, Jitendra Kumar Sinha (J.K Sinha), a senior Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer from the 1996 batch, who is currently Principal Secretary (PS) to the Chief Minister (CM) Manik Saha & the Health and Family Welfare Department, has been appointed in-charge Chief Secretary despite being junior to the departing CS.
The Tripura government has appointed an in-charge CS, as an IAS officer must complete at least 30 years of service before becoming eligible to be a CS of a state.
Backdrop
The transfer and appointment of CS occurred in the aftermath of Manik Saha recently taking over charge as the CM of Tripura following the resignation of Biplab Kumar Deb.
- Tripura has had three different Chief Secretaries in the last four years, including Lalit Kumar Gupta, Manoj Kumar, and Kumar Alok.
About Kumar Alok
i. In June 2021, Alok, a Tripura cadre 1990 batch IAS officer, was named CS of Tripura, after CS Manoj Kumar was removed and transferred to the position of Special Chief Resident Commissioner of Tripura in New Delhi, Delhi.
ii.Prior to this, Alok worked as an Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat of the Central Government.
About Tripura:
Governor – Satyadeo Narain Arya
Festivals – Neermahal water Festival (boat race organised at the Rudra Sagar Lake); Poush Sankranti Fair (celebrated on the occasion of the Uttarayan Sankranti at Tirthamukh)
Tribes – Tripura/Tripuri, Riang, Jamatia
