Need reforms in education sector to enhance quality: HP CM

Enough expansion has been made in the education sector and now there is a need to transform the quality, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said today.
The time has come to undertake new reforms in the education sector to make it more efficient and qualitative, he said at a programme to felicitate meritorious students of Class X and XII exams conducted by the state education board.
"Assessment of education is necessary to measure the progress in learning and make the current levels visible in a way that can be understood widely," Singh said.
Stressing that students should have ready access to books, research papers and other resources so that they become aware of different perspectives on a single topic and can make their own opinion, the chief minister said more efforts should be made by teachers to understand a child's mindset.

He said Himachal Pradesh has been recently adjudged as the best big state in higher education leaving Kerela behind.
Many educational institutes have been opened in far-flung areas of the state. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (universalization of elementary education) and other government programmes and scholarship schemes are being implemented but it is the quality of education which needs focus, Singh said.

Presiding over the programme, Governor Acharya Devvrat expressed concern over the "decline in human values" in today's society and said, "We are producing degree holders without these qualities."
He expressed happiness over girl students being more in numbers among the award-winning students and said education of girls was very important in building a strong and healthy society.

As many as 142 students who topped in class X and XII examinations honoured by the governor and the chief minister on the occasion.