Kumar Bahukhandi
Raipur: On the occasion of International Literacy Day, Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Deo Sai today virtually inaugurated one lakh Ullas Literacy Centres at the state level Ullas Mela organised at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Auditorium in the capital Raipur. One lakh volunteer teachers have been selected by the State Literacy Mission of the Education Department to run these literacy centres. The responsibility of the volunteer teachers will be to make 10 illiterates literate by introducing them to alphabet knowledge in their respective literacy centres. On this occasion, Chief Minister Sai inaugurated the state-wide Ullas Literacy Campaign by garlanding the statue of Maa Saraswati and lighting a lamp. On this occasion, he also released Ullas posters, Ullas songs, newsletters and brochures related to the campaign. During this, a documentary based on the Ullas program was also got screened.
On the occasion of International Literacy Day, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai inaugurated and observed the state level exhibition focused on innovative activities for basic literacy and numeracy at the state level Ullas Mela in the state. An exhibition has been organised here by SCERT along with 5 divisions.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said that education is the key to development. Education is very important if a person wants to develop in any field. Getting education is not a means to get a degree and a government job, but education is necessary for a person to work in any field, whether it is business, social service or politics. The Chief Minister said that our country has been a pioneer in the field of education. The work of the National Literacy Mission is going well under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief Minister Sai shared his experience and gave two-three examples in which he mentioned the incidents happening with illiterate people. He said that if he were literate, he could have avoided such fraud. Therefore, it is very important for all illiterate people to be literate
Chief Minister Sai, while explaining the importance of education, said that education is one such thing in the world which increases by sharing. All the illiterate people around us have to be made literate. We have taken up the task of making 10 lakh people literate. If we can make more people literate than this target, it will be even better. Chief Minister Sai said that our newly literate sister Smt. Shanti Devi Thakur, a resident of Bagbahara in Mahasamund district, who does not have hands, writes with her feet after becoming literate. Her handwriting is also very good. We are very happy to see this.
CM said that under the innovative thinking of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on education, the National Education Policy 2020 has been implemented across the country. As per the Prime Minister’s intention, our government has also implemented the new education policy in Chhattisgarh. 211 schools of Chhattisgarh are operating under the PM Shri scheme. On this occasion, along with administering the Ullas Literacy Pledge to the people, he called upon all the volunteer teachers and motivators to empower the illiterate by imparting them numeracy and alphabet knowledge.
Forest Minister Kedar Kashyap, who was presiding over the program, said that remarkable work is continuously being done in the field of education in the state. He said that the State Literacy Mission is an organisation doing good work without any budget, which is spreading education to the last person. He said that SCERT has prepared an action plan to provide primary education in the major dialects of Chhattisgarh, so that illiterates who understand different dialects can also be made literate.
Raipur MP Brijmohan Agrawal, the very special guest of the program, while addressing the program said that the literacy mission was closed for the last 5 years, which has been restarted under the leadership of Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making many welfare schemes for poor brothers and sisters in all areas along with education. For filling the forms in all those schemes, one will have to sign, he should know on which paper he is signing. He said that under the Ullas program, illiterate people will be made literate and they will be taught to read and write
School Education Secretary Siddharth Komal Singh Pardeshi said that under the National Education Policy 2020, a grand Literacy Week was organised in the country and the state from September 1 to 8 to promote the Ullas Nav Bharat Literacy Program. During this, various programs focused on education and literacy were organised in all the districts, blocks, urban areas and gram panchayats of Chhattisgarh as well as educational institutions.
In the programme, newly literate Smt. Mohini Patel of Durg district, Smt. Shanti Bai Thakur of Mahasamund district, Smt. Meena Nareti of Kanker, Smt. Sheetal Dhiwar of Bilaspur district, Smt. Sumita Singh of Balrampur district were honoured. Similarly, among the volunteer teachers, Smt. Karishma Patel of Rajnandgaon, Kumari Shanti Nag of Sukma, Kumari Shruti Tiwari of Surguja, Mr. Harsh Sahu of Bilaspur, Mrs. Nirjala Dhiwar of Raipur were honoured.
On the occasion, MLAs Punardar Mishra, Anuj Sharma, Indra Kumar Sahu, Rajesh Moonat, Motilal Sahu, Guru Khuswant Saheb and other public representatives, State Literacy Mission Director Rajendra Katara, Samagra Shiksha Managing Director Sanjeev Jha, Raipur District Collector Gaurav Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh along with departmental officers and employees and a large number of students were present.
