Sonia concerned over teacher absenteeism in rural areas
By IANSWednesday, September 8, 2010
NEW DELHI - National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi Wednesday expressed concern over teacher absenteeism in government schools in rural areas and said they should strive to reach the level of the state-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs).
“Why are other government schools not as good? One-fourth the teachers in 10+2 rural schools remain absent. Admissions take place in good numbers but children who leave studies midway are sizeable,” she said at a function here, launching 31 new JNV buildings across the country via video conferencing.
Sonia Gandhi said education in these JNVs, which are residential schools from Class 6-12, should meet the requirements of the changing times.
She said the JNVs had been largely successful in attaining their objectives of providing good quality education to talented children from predominantly rural areas.
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said 593 JNVs have been opened in the country since 1985-86 when two such schools started functioning.
He said JNVs had their origin in the National Education Policy of 1986.
The JNVs that were inaugurated Wednesday are spread across various states, including Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Haryana.
