Dehradun, 25 Sep: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami today felicitated 75 meritorious students who have secured top ten positions in the High School and Intermediate board examinations under Uttarakhand Board with the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Educational Excellence Award. The event was held at the SCERT Auditorium in Nanoorkheda here today.
Addressing the gathering, the CM reminded that Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was a multi-faceted personality who believed that education should not be confined to books alone but must instil patriotism, moral values, social harmony and practicality. He said it was with this vision that Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), a historic step towards making the education system more modern, practical and qualitative. He added that the state government is committed to fostering innovation, digital learning and Indian values in education. Smart classrooms, digital libraries and online learning platforms have been developed in educational institutions across Uttarakhand. Additionally, the book ‘Humari Virasat’ is also being introduced for classes 6 to 8 to familiarise students with India’s cultural heritage, folk traditions and eminent personalities of the nation and the state.
Reminding the gathering about recent reforms, the CM said that Uttarakhand has enacted the country’s strictest anti-copying law to curb the cheating mafia. He said that, in the past four years, over 25,000 youths had secured government jobs, many from ordinary families clearing multiple examinations. This, he added, was a stark contrast to the 21 years after the formation of the state, when only 16,000 appointments were made in total. Since the anti-copying law came into effect, more than 100 people involved in malpractice have been jailed. The Chief Minister alleged that some individuals unhappy with transparent recruitment processes were conspiring to jeopardise the future of youths, citing a recent attempt to leak a paper and efforts to create anarchy on the basis of a single complaint. He stressed that strict laws already exist to deal with such matters and firm action would be taken.
