Bihar sets up commission to introduce uniform education
Patna, Aug 8 (IANS)

Bihar has taken the lead in starting the process of adopting a
uniform educational system and has constituted a Common School System
(CSS) Commission to look into its long-term implementation.

The three-member commission is to submit a report within nine months
and will focus on ways to introduce the Common School System (CCS)
that aims at providing uniform education without discrimination based
on one's economic condition to all boys and girls of state.

"No other state has constituted a CSS commission till date and it is
the first concrete step to achieve the goal of education for all,"
said State Human Resources Minister Brishen Patel Tuesday.

He said that the nine-month-old Nitish Kumar government was keen to
start the CSS in the state as early as possible. "We would be the
first to introduce CSS also," he claimed.

The three-member commission comprising former foreign secretary
Muchkund Dubey, Anil Sadgopal of Delhi University and M.M. Jha,
secretary/commissioner of Human Resource Development, Bihar.

They will prepare a detailed action plan to give shape to the CSS and
its financial implications, official sources in the education
department said. "They would also fix the norms and standards to
ensure education for all," said an official.

The terms of reference of the commission would be the recommendations
of the Education Commission (1966) that coined the concept of
neighbourhood schools for equitable quality education to all children.

The CSS was also approved by the National Education Policy 1966, 1986
and the amended policy of 1992.

Once CSS is implemented, it would regulate all schools - government
and private - without compromising their autonomy, diversity and
flexibility.

According to official records, Bihar's literacy rate stands at 47.53 percent.

The socio-economically backward and impoverished Bihar has the highest
school dropout rates in the country, with over 80 percent of girls
dropping out from classes 1-10.