Haryana Assembly's Education Committee arrives in Lucknow to

study Uttar Pradesh's education system

Haryana Assembly's Education Committee calls UP's

educational reforms and innovations useful and exemplary

Haryana MLAs praise Operation Kayakalp, Chief Minister Model

Composite Schools, digital education, teacher training, and innovations

Lucknow, 27 July (HS): A high-level committee of the Haryana

Assembly arrived in Lucknow on Monday to study Uttar Pradesh's basic and

secondary education system, educational quality, school infrastructure

facilities, and innovations being made in the education sector. The committee

held a meeting with officials of the education department, including Additional

Chief Secretary, Basic and Secondary Education, Parth Sarathi Sen Sharma, and

Director General School Education, Monika Rani, in the Assembly Hall to gather

information about the extensive reforms and innovations being undertaken in the

field of education in Uttar Pradesh. The committee included Chairperson of the

Haryana Assembly's Education Committee, Laxman Singh Yadav, and other members.

During the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Basic and

Secondary Education, Parth Sarathi Sen Sharma, gave a detailed presentation on

various aspects of Uttar Pradesh's basic and secondary education system,

strengthening of school infrastructure, improvement in educational quality,

teacher training, digital and smart education, implementation of the National

Education Policy-2020, vocational education, digital system of monitoring and

accountability, and various innovative schemes. Members of the Haryana Assembly

committee praised the efforts being made to improve the education system in

Uttar Pradesh and described the state's model as useful and exemplary.

The meeting was informed that under the leadership of Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath, the state government has focused on providing a

better educational environment in schools as well as developing basic

facilities. Through Operation School Kayakalp, a clean, safe, and

child-friendly environment has been created in schools. After 2017-18, there

has been significant improvement in various standards of infrastructure

facilities in schools. Widespread saturation has been achieved in safe drinking

water, separate toilets for boys and girls, running water, handwashing units,

tiles in classrooms, electrification, ramps and railings, painting of

buildings, kitchens, boundary walls, and other facilities.

The presentation stated that under Operation Kayakalp,

school infrastructure facilities have been strengthened through various sources

such as different departments, Gram Panchayats, urban local bodies, District

Mineral Fund, MNREGA, Development Authority, Corporate Social Responsibility,

and community participation. Significant work has been done in 1.33 lakh

schools in the state to ensure the availability of 19 basic child-friendly

facilities.

The committee was also informed about the Chief Minister

Model Composite School Scheme. The scheme provides for the establishment of two

schools in each district. A total of 150 schools are planned to be developed,

for which an allocation of Rs 4,500 crore has been made. These schools are

developing facilities such as pre-primary to class 12 education, dream labs,

computer and language labs, smart classes, robotics and machine learning,

science-mathematics laboratories, libraries, sports facilities, mini stadiums,

open gyms, solar panels, rainwater harvesting, RO and UV water plants, modern

fire fighting systems, and online CCTV monitoring.

Similarly, under the scheme for upgrading Chief Minister

Abhyudaya Composite Schools, 75 schools are being equipped with modern

facilities. These schools are developing smart classes, modular labs for

science, mathematics, robotics and machine learning, bal vatika (children's

garden), poshan vatika (nutrition garden), Wi-Fi, CCTV monitoring,

child-friendly furniture, and other facilities.

In the field of secondary education, infrastructure

facilities in schools are being extensively expanded through Project Alankar.

Under this scheme, safe drinking water, toilets, laboratories, smart classes,

computer labs, libraries, solar panels, CCTV cameras, Wi-Fi, playgrounds,

multipurpose halls, rainwater harvesting, electricity, and other facilities are

being developed. In government secondary schools, multipurpose halls,

laboratories, additional classrooms, boundary walls, playgrounds, clean

drinking water, and separate toilets have been extensively constructed and

strengthened.

The meeting was informed that there has also been a positive

improvement in various educational indicators of school education. An increase

has been recorded in the retention rate at the secondary level, gross

enrollment ratio, and transition rate at the higher secondary level. The

dropout rate at the primary level has been zero. Schemes such as the

establishment of schools, upgrading of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, Chief

Minister Model Composite Schools, residential girls' schools in non-educationally

backward blocks, and Project Alankar are being run to increase enrollment and

reduce dropouts.

To improve the quality of education and learning outcomes,

special emphasis is being placed on teacher training, effective teacher cluster

meetings, academic calendars, daily lesson plans, print-rich learning

materials, competency-based assessment, catch-up teaching, active libraries and

reading corners, newspaper reading, and writing proficiency. Students' progress

is being assessed through competency-based evaluation and HPC.

Extensive training systems are being operated at the state,

district, and block levels to enhance the capacity of teachers. More than

16,000 digital learning materials are available on DIKSHA. Teachers are being

trained in modern subjects such as digital literacy, computational thinking,

and artificial intelligence. The capacity of teachers and educational officers

is also being developed in collaboration with prestigious institutions such as

IIIT Lucknow, IIT Kanpur, and IIM Ahmedabad.

In Uttar Pradesh, DIET institutions are being developed as

Centers of Excellence for teacher training and educational capacity building.

In the first phase, Rs 103 crore has been sanctioned for 13 DIET institutions,

while in the second phase, approximately Rs 198 crore has been approved for the

development of 14 DIET institutions.

The meeting also presented Uttar Pradesh's achievements in

the field of digital and smart education. Smart class facilities are available

in 37,266 primary and 3,775 secondary schools in the state. ICT labs have been

established in 33,800 primary and 3,307 secondary schools. Teachers have been

trained for effective use of digital resources in schools, and regular

interaction with students and teachers is being done through smart classes.

Under the implementation of the National Education

Policy-2020, Balvatika is being developed as a strong foundation for

foundational literacy and numeracy. In the state, 71,877 schools have

co-located Anganwadi centers, with approximately 38 lakh children enrolled.

Balvatika is being strengthened through educational materials, assessment

systems, play-based activities, and teacher training. A two-phase school

readiness program is being conducted for smooth transition from Balvatika to

Class 1.

The committee was also informed about the 'Learning by

Doing' pre-skilling program. For students from classes 6 to 8, trades such as

workshop and engineering, energy and environment, agriculture-horticulture and

nursery, and home and health care have been included. Currently, 5,562 upper

primary and composite schools are covered by this program, which is to be

extended to all upper primary and composite schools in a phased manner.

Vocational education is also being promoted at the secondary

level. Under Project Praveen, action is underway to establish 506 labs in the

year 2026-27. Vocational education is being conducted in 1,701 government

secondary schools under Samagra Shiksha, covering approximately 1.35 lakh

students. In addition, 16 trades are being operated.

The Dream Lab scheme was also specially presented at the

meeting. With the cooperation of industry groups, students in secondary schools

are being trained in modern subjects such as design innovation, computer-aided

machining, AR-VR and industrial robotics, artificial intelligence, IIoT,

additive manufacturing, drones, automobiles, and battery EVs. Schools in each

division are being connected through a hub and spoke model.

For transparency, monitoring, and accountability in the

education system, Vidya Samiksha Kendra and various digital applications and

dashboards are being used. Schools are being monitored based on administrative

and academic indicators. Effective monitoring is being done based on data

received from digital sources such as inspection systems, teacher and student

attendance, student learning outcomes, DIKSHA, Manav Sampada, and UDISE.

The meeting also provided information about the creation of

a database of approximately 5.96 lakh teachers and employees through the Manav

Sampada portal, maintenance of service books, online payment of salaries and

other dues, and digitization of various human resource services.

The committee was also informed about efforts such as the

expansion of 'Nipun Bharat Mission', reading culture and newspaper reading

campaign, children's fairs, creative activities, 'Ek Kasturba Ek Khel'

initiative, establishment of residential girls' schools in non-EBB blocks,

research and innovation, and 'Udgam'. To promote research and innovation in the

education sector, teachers and teacher-trainers are being trained, and a

platform is being provided for sharing educational innovations.

The Haryana Assembly's Education Committee praised Uttar

Pradesh's infrastructure development, use of digital technology, teacher

training, skill and vocational education, monitoring system, and educational

innovations in the field of basic and secondary education. Members of the

committee said that the extensive reforms and innovations being made in the

education sector in Uttar Pradesh provide useful experience for other states as

well.

Under the leadership of the Yogi government, the education

system in Uttar Pradesh has not been limited to merely increasing the number of

schools but has been linked to quality education, modern infrastructure,

digital technology, skill development, teacher capacity building, and the

holistic development of students. The state government's goal is that every

student gets the opportunity for quality, equitable, and modern education, and

that Uttar Pradesh becomes a leading state in the country in the field of

knowledge, skills, and innovation.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi