State Government thrust on education system

DIPR
Imphal, May 9: Department of Education (S), Govt. of Manipur has implemented Mid Day Meal scheme since 14th November, 2004. Under the scheme hot cooked food is being provided to Primary Children since November 2004 and Upper Primary children from 2008-09 onwards. Till the end of December, 2015, 148221 Primary and 38434 Upper Primary children were covered. The average coverage of children is 81.925 percent.
The scheme has covered 2475 Primary school, 717 Upper Primary school attached with Primary and 177 Upper Primary without Primary schools. Food grains up to March 2016 has been released to all concerned DCs for delivery to all respective schools. The utilized quantities till the end of December 2015 are 2318.793 MTs in Primary and 872.505 MTs in Upper Primary respectively. Fund amounting to Rs 82.50 lakhs @ Rs 5000/- per schools were provided to 1650 schools for purchasing of cooking utensils.
Under  SSA, Free text books were also distributed to 2,40,747 students and School grant @ Rs 5,000.00 were extended to 4431 schools. Maintenance grant @ Rs 5,000.00 to 10,000.00 has been extended to 3090 schools during the year 2014-15. Rs 5343.66 lakhs were  sanctioned for construction of 545 new Primary Schools. Rs 2228.66 lakhs sanctioned for construction of 62 new Upper Primary Schools and  Rs 6584.65 lakhs were sanctioned for construction of 2169 additional class rooms. The Department of Education (S) has upgraded 49 no. of Jr. High Schools to the status of High Schools.
Students of Class I-VIII of Govt. and Private Aided Schools are provided Free Text Books to enable them to complete their Elementary Cycle of schooling. This provision eradicates the financial barriers of the parents upto certain extent. Distribution of Free Text Books for the academic year 2016 is being effected in order to ensure to accomplish during the beginning of the academic session.
SSA Manipur developed training module and trained the members of School Management & Development Committee from time to time which would embraces parents/guardians, community leaders, teachers etc. regarding their inevitable role, responsibility and their Right enacted under the Right to Education Act.
To inculcate scientific temper and to create awareness of the rapid developments taking place in Science, the Science Unit, Department of Education (S), Manipur has conducted various programme during the year 2015-16 like, State level students science seminar 2015 on the topic ‘Harnessing Light; Possibilities and challenges’. State level National Talent Search Examination, 2015 where 25 students were selected to appear in the National Talent Search Examination held on 8th May, 2016. State Talent Search Examination, in which 713 students had appeared from 12 Zone/Districts centres of Manipur. National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Examination where 508 students appeared from 12 Zone/Districts centres of Manipur.
The department of Education(S) has organized  state level Science, mathematics and Environment Exhibition for children, 2015 on the main theme “Science and Mathematics for Inclusive Development”. Selected 20 students were participated in the Eastern India Science Fair, 2016 held at Birla Industrial & Technological Museums, Kolkata from Jan 12-16, 2016.
Under the INSPIRE Award scheme, a total of 150 students have received financial assistance @ Rs 5000/- each and they participated in the State/District level Science Exhibition & Project Competition for INSPIRE Awardees 2015. Selected best 5 awardees had participated in the 5th National Level Science Exhibition & Project Competition for INSPIRE Awardees held at IIT Haus Khas, New Delhi from Dec 5-6, 2015.
Under the State Competitive Scholarship Examination scheme, 25 students each were selected and given financial assistance @ Rs 300/- per month to Class V passed and @ Rs 500/-  per month to Class VIII passed students every year. Under the State Merit Scholarship of the Directorate of Education (S),  300 students each of Class X & XII passed were provided financial assistance @ Rs 6000/- and @ Rs 12,000/- based on the BoSEM & CoHSEM results.
Intensive campaigns were undertaken through Print and Electronic media in order to create awareness as well as to generate RTE Act compliance school. Hoarding carrying message on RTE mandates could be seen in all the district of the State. SSA Manipur has been trying to target all the stakeholders through leading Local Journal, Magazines, University Festivals, Street plays etc.
RMSA, Manipur has provided the infrastructure support to enhance the access and to provide enabling condition for quality education. To improve the infrastructure of existing govt. secondary schools, various components have been strengthened under RMSA. With a vision to make secondary education of good quality available, accessible and affordable to all children of the age group of 14-17 years, 159 Jr. High Schools were upgraded to High Schools under RMSA based on School mapping exercise.
To improve the quality of Govt. Secondary Schools, RMSA, Manipur has recruited 884 trained Graduate teachers purely on merit basis. Recruitment of another 138 trained Graduate teachers will be taken up shortly. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for Secondary section of Manipur has increased from 72.98% in 2013-14 to 76.9 in 2014-15. Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) has increased from 64.88% in 2013-14 to 68.866 in 2014-15. In terms of absolute number, enrolment in Secondary section has increased from 15464 in 2013-14 to 17159 in 2014-15.
In line with the objective of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, cleanliness campaigns under the themes : “Clean India makes Healthy and Rich India. Dirty India makes weak India “ and “Learn Cleanliness, Spread Cleanliness, Be a clean Future Indian” were carried out in different schools, Institutes and offices under the Department of Education (S).