Yogi’s education push: CM Model Composite Schools to come up in 57 U.P. dists

After opening 16 Atal Residential Schools, chief minister Yogi Adityanath plans to establish state-of-the-art ‘Chief Minister Model Composite Schools’ in 57 districts of the state. One educational institution each will be upgraded in the 75 districts to Chief Minister Abhyudaya Composite School.

In a high-level meeting on Friday, the chief minister reviewed the development of schools and gave necessary guidelines in this regard. 

The ‘Chief Minister Model Composite School’ should be built on a campus of 5-10 acres. For this, the marking of land in the districts concerned is to be completed at the earliest. Initially, provision for a minimum of three sections for each class has been made.

There will be residential facilities for the principal, teachers and other staff on the school premises, the CM said.

Yogi said that world-class infrastructure facilities should be provided in the school. Every classroom should be smart class. Besides, a robotics and machine-learning centre should be set up in each institution.

The school should be equipped with composite science and mathematics laboratory for Classes 1 to 8, modular laboratory for chemistry, physics for Classes 9 to 12, computer lab and language lab, separate libraries for Classes 1 to 8 and Classes 9 to 12, huge multiple activity hall with playground and open gym, solar panels and rain water harvesting unit, water plant, mid-day meal kitchen and dining hall, washing area, integrated arrangement of multiple handwashing units, modern fire extinguishing equipment and online CCTV cameras, he said.

Meanwhile, ‘PM SHRI (Prime Minister’s Schools for Rising India)’ scheme has been announced by the PM with the aim of bringing about comprehensive improvement in basic education. Under the scheme, 1,725 government schools of the state have been selected with the cooperation of the government of India.

In the first phase, all necessary construction work of 272 primary council schools, 570 composite council schools and 82 secondary schools selected for development should be completed by December 2024, guidelines of the government of India say.

Under PM SHRI, ultra-modern technical and digital education system is to be developed in these schools in a phased manner in accordance with the principles of the National Education Policy.

Smart classes, ICT lab, language lab, science laboratory, Atal Tinkering Lab will be established in these schools, and they will also be developed as green schools through installation of solar panels, LED lighting, energy-efficient resources, nutrition garden, waste management, water conservation etc.

A skill hub centre will also be developed. This will be of great help in providing good facilities to the children of the state, the CM said.

A total of 75 schools should be selected from 24,000 composite schools (Pre Primary to Class 8) running in the state and upgraded as Chief Minister Abhyudaya Composite Schools in a phased manner.

These Chief Minister Abhyudaya Vidyalayas should have Abhyudaya Block with five classrooms, mid-day meal shed, Bal Vatika, Nutrition Vatika, deployment of security personnel, child-friendly furniture, modular desk bench, Wi-Fi and CCTV facilities.

The chief minister said that credential-based deployment of teachers should be done for these schools. A computer-based selection test should be conducted to select the teaching staff. Here, opportunities for skill and entrepreneurship development among children will be made available through learning-by-doing model.

The assistance received from CSR or public representatives has proved useful in providing infrastructure facilities in the council schools of the state, though special efforts are still necessary for many schools, he said.