Kolkata: CM Suvendu Adhikari announced the Bengal govt will set up two CM-Shri model schools, modelled on Centre’s PM-SHRI scheme, in every district and two centres for excellence for sports in north Bengal, at a Teachers’ Day event at the New Town convention centre on Saturday.“We will set up two CM-Shri institutes in each district. Meritorious students from Class 6 will be admitted to these institutes through exams. These will be turned into model schools with the best teachers, modern digital labs and other facilities,” the CM said.He added that two centres of excellence for sports will be set up in north Bengal with teachers appointed through school service commission. “We will make arrangements so that students from Bengal can participate in national and international sports,” he said, adding that traditional sports such as kho-kho and hadudu should return to schools.Adhikari said a lot of damage was done to Bengal’s education system in past years and vowed to change the state’s education system with better infrastructure, teachers and non-teaching staff.He described the withdrawal of NCC from schools “a great loss” saying: “We need to bring back the physique of a ‘bratachari’.” “NCC should be brought back in schools and colleges,” he said.On recruitment through SSC, Adhikari said the process will be completed and teachers be appointed within Supreme Court-mandated timelines and greater weightage would be put on written tests over oral interviews.He said merit would be the only deciding factor in appointments, adding that the govt had already made changes to the OBC bill in the assembly and excluded those “wrongly marked OBC.”The CM stressed on the need to hire non-teaching staff so that teachers “don’t have to count midday meals.” “We need to recruit people in labs, we need to recruit people to ring the bell. Schools did not get composite grants in three years,” he said.He added that it was necessary for schools to have proper infrastructure in order to give students a learning environment and directed authorities to ensure midday meal kitchens run on gas, there is consistent power in schools as well as water purifiers and separate toilets for girls.“Provide musical instruments such as tabla, sitar, harmonium, khanjani and ektara. Decorate libraries and playgrounds beautifully. Create an environment like Ramakrishna Math,” he said.Adhikari added that the syllabus at schools will change. “Won’t you tell the young generation how Syama Prasad Mookerjee kept Bengal intact? Won’t there be a whole page on Matangini Hazra?” he asked.He further said the govt had made it mandatory to sing Vande Mataram, adding that the govt would not compromise on certain things.‘Phones evil for school students’CM Suvendu Adhikari, while talking about the negative impact of mobile phones on school students, said, “Mobile phones are a terrible evil among school students.”“A very difficult decision. My vote will decrease. Look at Gujarat, students from classes 1-12 are not allowed to have mobile phones. Without these reforms, the education system and Teachers’ Day will have no meaning. There are some things that politicians should not interfere with,” the CM said.
