The Education minister Dhan Singh Rawat has directed the officers of the department to expedite the process of setting up cluster schools in the State. The Education department has taken up a plan to set up two cluster schools in every block. The minister gave the order while taking a meeting of the officers of the department here on Thursday. Apart from the senior officers of the department all the block education officers (BEOs) of the State attended the meeting. In the three -hour long meeting Rawat reviewed the progress of cluster schools, PM Shri schools, performance of the students in the board examinations, distribution of textbooks and the number of teachers and students in the schools. The minister said that the officers of the department should take the parents and public representatives into confidence for merging the schools coming in a perimeter of 10 kilometres of a cluster school. After this the officers should get the DPRs of the cluster schools prepared from the work executing agency, he said.
The minister added that anti-tobacco and anti-drug campaigns should be undertaken in every school. On a stern note Rawat said that the rule of conduct regulations should be followed and students should be imparted moral education. The minister said that action should be taken against the teachers and employees who are absent from a long period of time from their duties. He added that the process of giving compulsory retirement to these absentee employees should be initiated.