TURA:
Tura celebrated World Literacy Day with an elaborate function organised by the West Garo Hills district unit of the SSA at SMELC, Tura, Dakopgre, on September 19. The celebration themed ‘Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies’ was marked by an enrolment drive of out-of-school children (OSC) and felicitation of school health and wellness programme achievers.
The model enrolment programme of the Education department aims at tracking, identifying, enrolling and mainstreaming out-of-school children in nearby schools and the programme has been making constant efforts to reduce dropout rates in the district. A block-level survey to identify out-of-school children in the district identified 119 OSC out of which 70 OSC were mainstreamed this year.
During the celebration, five OSC were given educational packages containing reading materials, pencil, sharpener and rubber. Three best performers and an ambassador under the school health and wellness program were also felicitated with mementos by the chief guest, M A Sangma, Rongkhon College of Teacher Education principal.
The achievers of the school health and wellness programme for Garo Hills region were awarded to Gambegre block, Roni A·sim Secondary School Tikrikilla, Dalu KGBV including school health and wellness ambassador to H Rabha, Roni A·sim Secondary School teacher.
Addressing the gathering, the chief guest informed that a recent meeting between Education officials in Shillong revealed that the high occurrence of dropout rates in the region is due to childhood pregnancy. The trend could be blamed on the limitless availability of information through electronic mediums like mobile phones, the chief guest said.
Speaking on the responsibilities of teachers, the chief guest stated that an educator’s sole responsibility is to focus on the student’s progress in the classroom. Cautioning teachers against absenteeism from their duties, the chief guest informed that erring teachers, especially in the primary segment, would now be monitored via an application developed for the purpose.