Himachal’s education sector sees rapid expansion: Government

Shimla, Jan 15 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh has made giant strides in education, progressing from one college, nine high schools and 52 middle schools in 1948 to over 15,000 governmental educational institutions, including 116 colleges, an official statement said on Sunday.

Net enrolment ratio in respect of elementary education has almost reached 100 and the state is poised to achieve universal access to secondary education this year as per its target, it said.

Stressing that the government endeavours to provide quality elementary education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years, the statement said new primary schools have been opened for this purpose and existing schools upgraded.

During the past four years, more than 1,010 schools have either been opened or upgraded, 4,511 posts of different categories created and over 3,500 teachers' posts were filled. The number of government colleges has reached 116 with the opening of 38 new institutions and government take-over of four.

As an incentive for bright students, 10,000 toppers of Classes 10 and 12 were provided laptops in 2015-16 at an expenditure of Rs 17.03 crore, the statement added.