Ahmedabad (Gujarat) (India) July 22 : The Gujarat Government concluded the 21st Shala Praveshotsav 2024 with the enrolment of an estimated 32 lakh students from Balvatika to Class 11 across the state. The three-day annual statewide school enrolment drive, which began on June 26th for the first time, included admissions into Class 9 and Class 11, ensuring comprehensive access to education across all grades.
Ms Ratna Viswanathan, CEO of Reach to Teach, said, “The idea of enrolling children into school for the first time and treating it like a festival is a celebration of both the quest for learning and the commitment of the Government to ensure learning happens, and joyfully. Praveshotsav is an annual drive by the Government of Gujarat to ensure statewide school enrolment and this initiative began when Shri Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.”
This year’s annual enrolment drive witnessed a jump in the enrolment of female students in secondary and higher secondary schools by 6.5 per cent compared to last year. The development came after the launch of the ‘Namo Lakshmi’ scheme, introduced this year to ensure that girls receive adequate support for nutrition, healthcare, and education. Under the scheme, girls in classes 9 and 10 will receive an annual amount of ₹10,000 and those in classes 11 and 12 will receive ₹15,000 annually.
She added, “This year it commenced on the 26th of June and ran for three days and the Reach to Teach team was very much involved with the process and supported the Education Department in this drive. The aim was to onboard children in Kindergarten (Balvatika) and Class 1, and for the first time to also include admissions into Class 9 and Class 11 with the aim of covering 32.31 lakh children.”
Reach to Teach has been working in Gujarat since 2007 to bring education to out-of-school children from remote areas. Since 2019, it has collaborated directly with the Government of Gujarat and has been actively involved in various government programs.
In the past few decades, the Gujarat government has introduced several initiatives for teacher training and has made significant progress in improving classroom teaching practices. According to the World Bank, the dropout rate in grades 1-8 has decreased from 19 percent in 2004-05 to less than 6 percent in 2017-18. However, there are still some major issues that need to be addressed to provide quality education to all students.
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