Gandhinagar (Government press release): Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani here today inaugurated the ‘Command and Control Centre’ for Education Department’s various projectslike Shala Praveshotsav 2.0 and Gunotsav 2.0 with a view to real-time online monitoring of attendance and working of teachers and other staff in government and grant-in-aid primary schools in the state for qualitative improvement of primary education.

The Chief Minister and other dignitaries presented tablets to BRC and CRC (Block and Cluster Resource Coordinators) and felicitated award winning teachers under the education department’s various schemes.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the new technology should prove to be a blessing for Gujarat to become a Role Model in Education in the country, with digitization and innovation of teaching methods and quality of education. He said that his government with its clean intention and clear policies intends to equip the next generation with right education to be able to face challenges in the competitive world, necessary to build a strong and prosperous state and nation.

Mr. Rupani exhorted the educational world and particularly the teachers in government primary schools to not just compete with the self-finance institutions but also outperform them. There is need to create an image so that parents crave to get their wards shifted to government schools.

He said there is need to supervise 2.50-lakh teachers and 70-lakh students in 32,000 government and 10,000 self-financed schools in Gujarat. He said that the people are supreme in a democracy and it becomes our responsibility to fulfil the people’s aspiration with the help of strong leadership, clear intention and modern technology. It is becomes our onerous responsibility to provide right education to the poor students and those living in remote areas.

Mr. Rupani said the responsibility should be defined for all, right from the Chief Minister to the lowermost employee. He said that the government would never shirk from its duty to provide result-oriented and transparent governance to the last person in the last mile with time-bound planning. Where there is sacrifice, there will be positive result in 2-3 years. A person can be economically poor, but not in intellect. We have overcome shortcomings, now providing free tuition, free textbooks, uniform and cycles. He congratulated the team and said that online attendance system will ensure regularity and quality, as tablets made BRC and CRC work paperless and fast.

Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma said that 100 per cent school enrolment and zero per cent dropout rate are the Gujarat Government’s twin goals, to be achieved soon. He talked on the importance of primary education, Standard-1 being the most important, necessary for a strong foundation. There is a new trend of students seeking transfer from self-financed schools to government schools, over 2-lakh such cases last year alone.

Minister of State for Education Vibhavariben Dave said that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat he had started Shala Praveshotsav campaign in 2003. It resulted in 99.40 per cent enrolment and 1.40 per cent dropout rate. The government is committed to take it to zero per cent. There has been an increase in A-Grade and B-Grade schools due to the efforts of teachers, BRC, CRC, DEOs and DPOs.

Education Secretary Vinod Rao described the inauguration of Command and Control Centre as a historic day to take primary school teaching to the level of Praveshotsav 2.0 and Gunotsav 2.0.

It may be mentioned here that e-governance got a boost during Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s tenure in the form of CM Dashboard Digital System to be able to monitor online different departments’ functioning down to the district level offices.

The Control and Command Centre will cross-check and verify students and teachers attendance and location through geo-fencing with application of GPS. The online system was introduced in government schools in the state in November 2018. Students with low 60 per cent attendance and very low 40 per cent attendance are encouraged to improve their attendance.

The function was attended by Chief Secretary J.N. Singh, senior officers of the education departments, BRCs, CRCs, DEOs and teachers.

SarvaShikhaAbhiyan State Project Director Avantika Singh proposed a vote of thanks.

– Information department