From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
 
Bangalore, Dec 31: The 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda will be celebrated with State-wide competitions in primary and secondary schools of Karnataka from January 7 to 11.

The birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) falls on January 12, which is celebrated as National Youth Day.

All primary and high schools have been instructed to conduct competitions such as panting, fancy dress, essay writing, speech to mark Swamy Vivekananda’s birth anniversary, Primary and Secondary Education Visveshwara Hegde Kageri said describing the Sage as a great patriot, thinker, spiritual leader and lover of humanity.

Nearly 1.10 crore school-children of about 70,000 schools would participate in competitions and take out procession on January 12 to create awareness among the people about principles advocated by Swami Vivekananda.

Schools have also been told to involve parents, school development monitoring committee members, voluntary organizations and swamy Vivekananda trusts people in the procession, the minister said.
 

Centre Asked to Release Funds Under RTE:
 
The Minister urged the Centre to release money to the State to reimburse school fee of children who received admission under Right to Education (RTE) quota last year.
Nearly 50,000 children received admission under RTE quota in private educational institutions.

The State Government has reimbursed Rs 27 crore as first installment.

Another Rs 27 crore was required to reimburse the second installment fee.

The Centre, which formulated the Act, was not bothered to meet the financial expenditure involved in implementing the Act.

Condemning the Centre’s attitude towards implementing the educational programmes, he said despite several pleas, the Union Human Resource Development has not responded to the State’s demand.

Financial burden on the State government would increase if the Centre declined to give adequate finance to the State, he said.
 

1000 Job-Oriented Course Teachers Regularised
 
The State Government has regularised the services of 1000 teachers of job-oriented courses (JoC) in the State.

These teachers have been working in various institutions on ad-hoc basis for over a decade.
Kageri said services of another 2,000 JoC teachers would be regularised soon.

A panel headed by the additional chief secretary would hold a meeting in a few days to regularise services of 2,000 teachers.

These teachers have been working in various private institutes, he said.

The services of JoC teachers working in various institutes of government departments have been regularised.

The decision would create an additional financial burden of Rs 45 crore a year on the state exchequer.

The Minister said all schools and pre-university college managements have been instructed to take steps to ensure safety of girl students in their respective institutions.

A stringent action would be taken against those indulged in molestation of girls or any other cases, he warned.