By TCN News,
New Delhi: Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on the necessity of creating local community study centres for students in the light of the Sachar Committee findings, Salman Khurshid, Minister of Minority Affairs, on Thursday said the Central Government has instructed states to use existing schools and community buildings as community study centres in the evening.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education & Literacy has instructed all States/UTs on 30.08.2007 that the existing schools and community buildings could be used in the evenings as study centres and existing teachers could be engaged on payment of honorarium to tutor willing students including girls, who could be accompanied by guardians, Khurshid said. He added that departments dealing with metropolitan and municipal development could be directed suitably to make such facilities available. Such facilities should also be kept in mind in the designing of future cities and town plans, he said.
The Minister also informed the House that the fund from Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) can be utilized for construction of community study centres for students in urban slums, provided such assets are open to community at large without any restrictions in view of the objective of the MPLADS guidelines as the main objective of the scheme is to enable MPs to recommend works of developmental nature with emphasis on creation of durable community assets based on the locally felt needs to be taken up in their constituencies.