New Delhi, Aug 15 (IANS) The Congress-led UPA government was paying special attention to the needs of the children and had made education mandatory by law, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday.
“Our children are the biggest strength of our country. If our children are provided with good education and are healthy, then our future would be bright,” the prime minister said in his Independence Day speech.
“This is the reason why we have paid special attention to the needs of children in our policies and and programmes. The education of children has been made mandatory by law,” he said in his address to the nation from Red Fort.
From 2006-07, he said, only 93 percent of children in the 6-14 age group were getting admission in schools. Today, almost all children in this age group are being admitted to schools.
“More than 51,000 new schools have been opened in the country and about seven lakh teachers appointed in them in just the last two years. Now we will focus on improving the quality of education. In the next few months we will put in place a system of continuous assessment of the benefit our children are getting from teaching. Participation of the community and parents would be ensured so that they can be satisfied with the quality of teaching,” he said.
He also said that 12 crore children everyday were being provided nutritious mid-day meal in schools.
“This is the biggest scheme of its kind in the world,” he said.
