Bihar Education Dept Asks District Authorities to Ramp Up Inspections of Schools, Colleges

The Bihar Education Department has directed district authorities to increase inspections of schools and colleges while ensuring that teachers are solely focused on teaching tasks. Ongoing teacher training sessions have been temporarily halted due to the resumption of a caste survey in the state. Training will resume for non-participating staff on August 7. The Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) of the Education Department, K K Pathak, sent a letter on August 1, 2023, to District Magistrates (DMs), urging them to prevent schools in their districts from being without teachers and to avoid assigning teachers to non-teaching administrative duties, except for the caste survey. The aim is to uphold the quality of education in government schools.

In a separate communication dated August 2, 2023, the Director of Administration within the education department urged senior officials to conduct weekly inspections of at least ten schools or degree colleges. The inspection reports should be regularly submitted to the headquarters.

Additionally, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) Director, Sajjan R, issued a letter on August 3 to the heads of various educational institutions, including College of Teacher Education (CTE), District Institute for Education and Training (DIET), Primary Teacher Education College (PTEC), and Block Institute for Education and Training (BIET), requesting them to resume residential training for new batches of teachers, starting from August 7.

With the Patna High Court validating the caste survey in Bihar, the state government swiftly responded by suspending ongoing teacher training programs. The government aims to utilize teachers for the survey's prompt completion. The letter emphasizes that training will recommence on August 7 for teachers not involved in the caste survey. The state has allocated Rs 500 crore from its contingency fund for the survey, overseen by the general administration department.