Three-day annual school enrolment drive in Gujarat to kick off on June 26
The Gujarat government on Tuesday announced revised a schedule for Shala Praveshotsav and Kanya Kelavani, a three-day annual statewide drive to promote enrolment of eligible students, and set a target of getting 25.75 lakh enroled for the 2025-26 academic session.
The 23rd edition of the drive, earlier scheduled for June 18-20, will now be held from June 26 to 28. The dates have been revised owing to bypolls in Kadi and Visavadar assemblies on June 19, gram panchayat election for 8,326 villages across the state on June 22 and counting of votes scheduled for June 25.
The drive will be held in 1,529 government secondary and higher secondary schools, 5,134 grant-in-aid secondary and higher secondary schools and 31,824 government primary schools across the state.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Tuesday chaired an orientation meeting in Gandhinagar with ministers, office-bearers and around 400 IAS, IPS, and IFS officers and others who will be a part of the three-day exercise.
As per Education Department estimates, 8.75 lakh students are eligible for admissions in Balvatika, 10.50 lakh for admission in Class 9 and 6.5 lakh for admissions in Class 10 and 11.
Speaking at the orientation meeting, Education Minister Kuber Dindor said that the state government is focusing on admission of students to Class 9, 10 and 11 for this year's Shala Praveshotsav.
Chief Secretary Pankaj Joshi said that Shala Praveshotsav is not limited to the Education Department but has become a 'mission-mode' festival, which connects all departments. He also advocated social audit based on feedbacks through meetings with School Management Committees (SMCs).
This exercise was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2002, during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
As part of the exercise, officials visit schools to assess works done by the SMCs, School Management and Development Committees (SMDCs), and School Management Teams. As per the National Education Policy 2020, local communities are also involved to help organise meetings with the SMCs and SMDCs.
Visting teams ensure that SMCs and SMDCs comprise active and interested members, explain the importance of such commiteess and its role in improving the quality of education, monitor the use of smart classes and progress of children, create awareness among parents about their children's education, and ensure that students go to their schools regularly.
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