[67th BPSC] Bihar: Child Development-II

Development Programme for Children

• There are 191.3 lakh children in Bihar, belonging to the age-group 0-6 years. For their physical and mental development, a number of development programmes are run by the State Government, sometimes with support from the Central Government.
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme
  • The ICDS, also known as Scheme of Anganwadi Services, is one of the flagship schemes Of the Central Government, launched on October 2, 1975 as a corrective intervention for children in 0-6 years age group, and expectant or nursing mothers.
  • It aims at long-term improvement in childcare, their early stimulation and learning, health and nutrition. The ICDS scheme was initially launched in pursuance of the National Policy for Children in 33 experimental blocks in the country, of which 3 were in Bihar.
  • ICDS now provides a package of six services:
    • Supplementary Nutrition,
    • Non-Formal Pre-school Education (for children in the age group 3-6 years),
    • Immunization,
    • Health Check-up,
    • Referral Services, and
    • Nutrition and Health Education for Mothers.
  • The target group of ICDS is reached through Anganwadi Centers (AWC). The ICDS personnel include Child Development Project Officer (CDPO), Lady Supervisor (LS), Anganwadi Worker (AWW) and Anganwadi Helper (AWH).
  • The main beneficiaries of the scheme are:
    • children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years,
    • pregnant women,
    • lactating women, and
    • nursing children (up to 6 months).
    • The adolescent girls (11 -14 years) who are not going to school are also benefitted through this scheme.
  • Now, ICDS scheme is implemented through 544 project offices in 38 districts of Bihar. Altogether, 1,14,718 AWCs have been sanctioned in the state. Till 2016-17, 91,677 of these AWCs were operational.
    • The Directorate of ICDS started operationalizing 23,041 more newly AWCs from 2017-18 in Bihar. These 23,041 AWCs were sanctioned for Bihar by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) in 2015-16. The process of implementation of these newly sanctioned centers has been initiated, based on demand raised by CDPOs.
    • Till date, all 544 ICDS projects are through 1,07,603 AWCs and additional AWCs, and 7115 Mini AWCs.
  • As ICDS is mainly a service-based programme, its staffing is extremely crucial for its success.
    • Compared to 2018-19, there has been a slight decrease in the number of Lady Supervisors (LS) in the subsequent years. But, on the other hand, there is an increase in the number of CDPOs with a slight decrease in 2021-22.
    • But for AWWs and AWHs, there has been continuous increase in the number of staff after 2018-19.
    • The vacancy ratios in 2021-22 are — CDPO (30.9 percent), IS (49.1 percent), AWW (2.3 percent) and AWH (4.2 percent).
      • As this is a Very important scheme Of the State Government, directly addressing childhood needs, the problem of significant number of vacancies in the posts of CDPO and is needs to be addressed.
  • The fund released by the Central Government as percentage of the budgetary amount is generally high since 2017-18. Indeed, in 2017-18 and 2018-19, it was more than 100 It is also laudable that the expenditure against the fund released was more than 85 percent in all the years, except in 2019-20 when only 73.2 of the fund was utilised.
• Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP)
  • Based on the provisions contained in the National Security Act 2013, the Supplementary Nutrition (under Integrated Child Development Services Scheme) Rules 2017 came into being in February, 2017.
  • This programme is meant for regulating the entitlement for
    • every pregnant woman and lactating mother till 6 months after child birth, and even,
    • child in the age group of 6 months to 6 years (including those suffering from malnutrition).
  • It makes provision for foodgrains for 300 days a year. In case of non-supply of the entitled quantities of foodgrains or meals to the entitled persons, they are entitled to receive food security allowance from the concerned State Government within the time, as prescribed by the Central Government.
  • Thus, to improve the nutritional status of women and children in Bihar, the Supplementary Nutrition Programme was implemented under Anganwadi Services.
  • Under this scheme, nutritional standards for children in the age group of 6 months to 3 years and pregnant women and lactating mothers are required to be met by providing ‘Take Home Rations‘ (THR), or healthy Hot Cooked Meal (HCM).
  • Children aged 3 to 6 years are given Energy-dense Nutlitious (EDN) recipes as HCM for daily requirement.
  • Besides the items in the menu (includes Paushtik Laddu, Sattu laddu), these children are also provided with a glass of milk on Wednesdays.
    • Paushtik Laddu is filled with all the required ingredients.
    • Thus, the Paushtik laddus have been included in the food prepared by the AWWs, with the help of Helpers (Sahayika). These laddus are being packaged and distributed among children either as HCM or with THR. This step of the State Govemment shall improve the nutrition outcomes for children in the state.
  • Hot Cooked meal is also prepared and served to the children attending Anganwadi Centers for Pre-School Education. Along with this, the children are also provided with morning snacks as per the prescribed menu (Chura&Gur, Ankurit).
• National Nutrition Mission (NNM)
  • ‘Poshan Abhiyaan‘, a scheme for holistic nourishment (earlier known as National Nutrition Mission) was launched in 2017 for three years in mission mode to attain the goal of ‘Suposhit Bharat‘. The scheme has been extended in March, 2021.
  • Under Poshan Abhiyaan, the focus is on interventions related to nutritional status, specially during the first 1000 days of life of a child, since conception.
  • National Nutrition Mission aims to improve the nutritional indicators of children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. It ensures interaction with functionaries, better monitoring, issue alerts for timely action, and encouragement for field-level functionaries to perform better, so as to achieve the goals.
  • The implementation strategy is based on intense action plan for monitoring and convergence up to the grassroot level.
  • To improve the service delivery of ICDS and real-time monitoring of programme, ‘Poshan Tracker‘ is now operational in all 38 districts.
    • Earlier ICDS Common Application Software (CAS) was set up in all AWCs of 38 districts. Now, Poshan Tracker is being used which is a mobile-based application, in which data of ground level are entered by the AWWs.
    • Monitoring is being done at all levels through the dashboard.
• Poshan Mah
  • Under the National Nutrition Mission, the month of September in 2018 was celebrated as Poshan Mah campaign with an aim to reach out to every household in the State with the message on nutrition.
  • It then continued in 2019, 2020 and another objective of this campaign was to ensure convergence of all the departments working for nutrition and jointly plan to achieve the nutritional goals.
  • In 2020, different programmes were organised on themes like Nutrition Garden, identifying plants that are good for nutrition, plantation, identification and management of undernourished children, etc., based on Covid-related norms.
  • These programmes were organised to address issues like using the land available with AWCs for plantation, training of staff, etc.
  • Under all these programmes, about 90 lakh activities were organized and 48 crore people were benefitted through these activities.
• Pradhan Mantri Matri Vandana Yojana (PMMVV)

• • PMMVY, earlier known as Maternity Benefit Scheme (MBS) or Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY), is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, under which the cost sharing ratio between the Central and State Government is 60:40.
  • The Scheme envisages providing cash incentive of Rs. 5000 in three instalments directly to the account of the pregnant women and lactating mothers in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Mode.
  • PMMVY is implemented throughout the state with effect from January 1, 2017. Under this scheme,
    • the first instalment of Rs. 1000 is paid on early registration of pregnancy within three months of the Last Menstruation Period (LMP),
    • the second instalment of Rs. 2000 after six months of pregnancy and attending at least one Ante-Natal Check-up (ANC).
    • Finally, the third instalment of Rs. 20(K) is paid after delivery and completion of the first round of child immunization.
  • Apart from these three instalments, the beneficiary may also avail an additional sum of Rs. 1000, if the delivery takes place at government or registered private institutions, under the Maternity Benefit Scheme Of the Health Department.
  • Thus, the total amount that a pregnant woman would avail is Rs. 6000. The funds under PMMVY are released on the basis of an indicative number of beneficiaries and utilisation of fund of the previous year.
  • Since inception and up to November 2021 , about 26.30 lakh beneficiaries have availed the benefit Of the scheme, involving a sum of Rs. 44.44 crore.
    • In 2021-22, a budget provision of Rs. 252.42 crore was made, of which Rs 23.38 crore was Central share and Rs. 229.04 crore was State share.
• Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG)
  • Adolescence is a vital stage in the life of a woman. This phase sits between childhood and womanhood and is the most eventful phase for her social and psychological development. The life-cycle approach for holistic child development remains unaddressed, if adolescent girls are excluded from the developmental programmes.
  • A specific intervention for adolescent girls, known as Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) or SABLA was launched in November, 2010, as a comprehensive intervention for adolescent girls in the age group of 11-18 years, with a special focus on out-or-school girls in 12 districts of Bihar. The scheme has now been scaled up to all the districts, with effect from April, 2018.
  • This new Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) is for the age-group 11-14 years who are not going to school. The SAG uses the ICDS infrastructure and aims at breaking the nutritional and gender disadvantage by providing a supportive environment for adolescent girls.
  • Realising the multi-dimensional needs of out-of-school adolescent girls, steps are taken to motivate these girls to join the school system. In 2017-18, the State Government has approved implementation of the restructured Scheme for Adolescent Girls to focus on the age group of 11-14 years.
  • SAG was initially implemented in 205 districts in India, which was later expanded in a phased manner to cover all the districts of the country. The health challenges for adolescent girls include pregnancy, risk of maternal mortality, infant mortality, sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive tract infection, incidence of HIV, etc., and all these need improved health care facilities for them.
  • After the formal launch of SAG and issuing of administrative guidelines, a preliminary survey was conducted in Bihar, which had identified 1.60 lakh adolescent girls who were not going to school.
  • The scheme has the provision or funds from the Central and State Governments in the ratio of 50:50.
  • At AWCs, supplementary nutrition of 600 kcal and 18-20 gms of protein (including micronutrient) are being provided to the adolescent girls under this scheme as Take-Home-Ration (THR) once a month for 25 days, costing Rs. 9.50 per day.
  • In 2019-20, the campaign of ‘Go Back to School’ was moved intensively by Lady Supervisors and CDPOs. In the beginning of 2020-21, it was recognised that all the girls aged 11-14 years were enrolled in schools and the target of SAG has been achieved.
• National Creche Scheme (NCS)
  • Since 2018-19, the National Creche Scheme (NCS) is being implemented by the Union Ministry Of Women and Child Development, for the children of working mothers.
  • It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to provide day care facilities to children (in the age group of 6 months to 6 years). The scheme provides an integrated package of the following services —
    • (i) Day care facilities including sleeping facilities,
    • (ii) Early Stimulation for Children below 3 years and pre school education for 3-6 years old children,
    • (iii) Supplementary nutrition (to be locally sourced),
    • (iv) Growth monitoring, and
    • (v) Health check-up and immunisation.

Drinking Water and Sanitation

• Under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009, Section 19 provides Norms and Standards for schools. The government has the accountability and mandate to provide school infrastructure, including drinking Water facility and toilets as per those norms and the respective State RTE Rules.
• According to these norms or Rules, the states must provide safe and adequate drinking water facilities to all children and separate toilets for boys and girls in every school.
• Drinking Water and sanitation are the integral part of education infrastructure that improves health and enables children in many ways. Moreover, such facilities should also cater to all, including the small children, girls of menstruating age, and children with disabilities.
• The Coverage of functional drinking Water facility and toilets in of schools are more than 90 percent, which is an achievement. When Iooked from the perspective of boys’ and girls’ schools, this gap between total and functional toilets is lesser for girls’ toilet, compared to those of the boys‘, which is again commendable.

Educational Programmes for Young Children

• Education expands the capabilities of individuals and becomes a catalyst for the closely interrelated economic, social, cultural, and demographic changes that lead to the overall development of a society.
• The Indian Education System, according to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, now has a 5+3+3+4 of schooling, which includes early childhood education under the domain of formal schooling.
• Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is one of the six services provided free of cost through Anganwadi Centres, under the Umbrella ICDS Scheme. All children in the age group 3- 6 years, who are enrolled under ICDS, are beneficiaries of pre-school education at Anganwadi Centres.
• The early childhood years (conception to 6 years) lay the foundation for learning and development later. In this background, the investment in early childhood development is extremely desirable. The details of the programme:
• Preschool Education Programme
  • The pre-school education is given to the children in the age-group of 3-6 years at the Anganwadi Centres.
  • After teaching-learning and play activities, the children get registered for Pre-School Education and are provided with hot cooked meals at the Anganwadi Centres. A regular Anganwadi Centre caters to approximately 30-40 children for Preschool F.ducation, as well as serves hot cooked meals.
    • The Anganwadi Worker (Sevika) is responsible for the Preschool Education, whereas the Anganwadi Helper (Sahayika) is responsible for preparation and serving of hot cooked meals.
    • The hot cooked meals are served according to the calorific, protein and micronutrient requirements of the children, as mandated in the National Food Security Act 2013.
  • Till March 2020, a total 82.78 lakh children were enrolled under this programme in Bihar. In 2021, due to Covid-19, AWCs remained closed. However, teaching and learning materials were provided to the enrolled children at home and regular monitoring was done by AWWs.
• Pre-School Education Kit
  • The Pre-School Education (PSE) kits are being provided to all AWCs and Mini AWCs at a cost of Rs. 5000 per AWC per annum, for effective implementation of ECCE in all AWCs.
  • Appropriate activity books have also been developed for children of 3-6 years (separately for children in 3-4 years, 4-5 years and 5-6 years age-group) by the concerned Ministry and are being used by different states.
  • These play and learning materials and PSE kits are procured by AWCs from the state-level agencies. The ECCE material consists of 3 different sets of workbooks for practice of language, artwork and mathematics.
  • The State Government is also providing Rs. 400 each to Pre-school students to buy school dress under the School Dress programme since 2012.
• Child Assessment Cards
  • Child Assessment Cards under National ECCE Curriculum Framework have been prepared to grade the performance of the PSE in the AWCs.
  • The assessment helps the AWCs decide whether children have performed as per the benchmark or they need additional support.
• Local Monitoring and Supervision Committee
  • Another admirable initiative of the State Government is the formation of a local Monitoring and Supervision Committee at every Anganwadi Centre.
  • The Committee is called ‘Anganwadi Vikas Samiti (AVS)‘, comprising 14 members which includes ward member / Councillor (as Chairperson), ASHA or other Health worker Mahila Samakhya / Teacher of Primary School, (iv) Middle / High School Teacher, ANM, Mothers of children, Sevika (Anganwadi Worker) etc.
  • This Committee is responsible for smooth functioning of an Anganwadi Centre. Upon completion of 5 years 8 months to 6 years, the children are sent to nearby government primary schools on the recommendation of Anganwadi Workers for enrolment in regular education curriculum.
• Out-of-School Children (OOSC)
  • Generally, the out-of-school children (OOCS) are from the poorest sections of the society. Children who live in dilapidated homes (located in slum areas), at railway stations, on the streets, or in other unsafe, life-threatening environments, are not able to go to school regularly.
  • Most of these marginalised children work as beggars, vendors, rag-pickers or helper in small shops. But, according to the objective of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) for universalising elementary education, it becomes important that all out-of-school children are brought into the ambit of elementary education. Towards this, there has been substantial improvement in the coverage of elementary education in Bihar in terms of increased enrolment in the last decade.
  • To assess the actual burden of out-of-school children, Habitation Mapping has been carried out in the state which collected information regarding the presence of primary and upper primary schooling facility, conforming to State Right to Education norms.
  • On comparing it with the last year’s data, it is seen that the number of OOSC decreased from 1.44 lakh in 2019-20 to 1.12 lakh in 2020-21. This is definitely the result of a focused approach of the State Government towards strengthening elementary education.
  • In 2020-21, a total of 1.12 lakh OOSC in the age group of 6-13 years have been mainstreamed though different interventions. Of these, 0.58 lakh were boys and 0.53 lakh were girls.
    • Out of these, 30.4 percent were SC, 4.2 percent were ST and 20.2 percent were Of Minority Community.
• Participation in Sports and Physical Education
  • Sports and physical activities are now organised in Bihar under the ‘Fit India Movement’.
  • In 2019-20, a sum of Rs. 25,000 was given to each secondary and higher secondary school to purchase sports goods. For the purpose, a sum of Rs. 14.45 crore was released.
    • Sport teacher was appointed or nominated in every school. Similarly, to purchase sports goods for primary schools, a sum of Rs. 5000 was earmarked per school.
    • The corresponding assistance was Rs. 10,000 for upper primary schools.
• Invention of Arsenic Filter
  • In order to solve the problem of arsenic in drinking water, the students of science who were enrolled under Kilkari have invented an arsenic filter.
  • A provisional payment for the project has also been made by the Department of Science and Technology. The project has also been submitted to the appropriate authority for an Indian patent.
• 28th National Children’s Science Congress Competition, 2020:
  • Under National Children’s Science Congress Competition, 2020, two students of Kilkari were selected for the state award.
  • These two students were selected out of the top 50 students who had submitted projects under the programme ‘Developing an Automatic Groundwater Monitoring and Tracking Device‘.

Status Of Child Protection

• The highest priority is accorded to safety and well-being of children by the Constitution of India. Children constitute about 48 percent of the total population of Bihar (Census 2011).
  • It has been widely accepted by policy makers that adequate investment is needed for the survival, education, protection and overall well-being of children to ensure an inclusive growth.
  • Many children, both in Bihar as well as elsewhere, face multiple vulnerabilities in terms of accessing quality nutrition, healthcare, education and other services.
    • Further, new challenges come up for children quite often, like online exploitation of children, climate change, and natural and man-made disasters.
  • To meet these challenges regarding safety and well-being of children, the State Government has already taken some initiatives.

• Child Protection Service (CPS) Scheme
  • Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. It is being implemented since 2009-10, through the State Governments on a predefined cost sharing pattern.
  • It is a component of centrally sponsored Umbrella Integrated Child Development Scheme (UICDS). The objective of the scheme is to provide a security net to the children in difficult circumstances.
  • It also aims at reduction of vulnerabilities that imply abuse, neglect, exploitation, abandonment and separation of children from their parents.
  • Five specific objectives of the scheme are:
    • (a) improved access to quality child protection services,
    • (b) raised public awareness about physical and social protection,
    • (c) clearly articulated responsibilities and accountability for child protection,
    • (d) established and functional Structure at all levels of services delivery, and
    • (e) operational evidence-based monitoring and evaluation.
• Parvarish
  • Parvarish is a scheme to promote the family/kinship-based care for —
    • (i) orphans,
    • (ii) HIV infected/affected
    • (iii) infected/affected persons by grade-ll leprosy,
    • (iv) children whose parents are sentenced to prison, and
    • (v) children whose parents are mentally disabled and unfit to take care of their children.
  • Under this scheme, there is a provision of an allowance of Rs. 900 month for children in the age group 0-6 years and Rs. 1000 month for children in the age group 0-18 years to facilitate their upbringing.
  • Till date, a total of 12,244 children have been benefited from the scheme in Bihar.
  • In 2021-22, there is a provision for an outlay of Rs. 21.55 crore for the purpose.
• Bal Sahayata Yojana (Child Support Scheme)
  • In order to provide social security to the children, the Child Support Scheme has been started in 2020 to encourage better upbringing, housing and education for children orphaned during the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • Under this scheme, orphaned and destitute children in the age group of 0-18 years will be considered eligible for getting the benefit.
    • A child will be considered as orphan when either one or both parents have died because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • All eligible children, who ale living with their parent/guardians in a non-institutional arrangement, will be given a grant of Rs. 1500 per month under the scheme. Till date, 55 beneficiaries have been benefitted through this scheme.
• Establishment Of Child Protection Unit (CPU)
  • According to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000, as amended in 2006 there is a mandatory provision to constitute a State Ievel Child Protection Unit, along with District Level Child Protection Units in all the 38 districts of the State.
  • For 2020—21, an allotment of Rs. 22 crore has been made for different initiatives under CPU.
• Children’s Home
  • Presently, 23 Children’s Homes are functioning in different districts of the state to support and rehabilitate destitute, abandoned and orphaned children.
    • Out of these 23 homes, two children’s homes in Patna and Begusarai, known as Apna Ghar, are run by the State Government.
    • In addition, 11 other children’s homes (Gaya, Munger, Bhagalpur, Katihar, East Champaran, Rohtas, Saharsa, Saran, Patna, Nalanda and Sitamarhi) are run by the Child Protection unit, Bihar.
    • The remaining 10 children’s homes are run by the non-government organisations.
  • Presently, a total of 6540 children have been provided with residential facilities at different Children ‘s Homes.

Status of Child Participation

• Participation is recognised by United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) as one of the important human rights of a child, which emphasizes the right of children to freely express their views, formally or informally.
• It facilitates their participation in all matters concerning their lives. Various schemes and programmes run by the Central and State Governments have provisions for child’s participation in decision-making processes to ensure their active involvement in planning.
  • Both government and civil society should engage with children and communities in sensitising them about child rights and empowering them to raise their voice and demand entitlements.
• In Bihar, there are at least two specialised institutions promoting participation of children in social activities.
• Child Cabinet (Bal Sansad) :
  • The State Government has set up Bal Sansads in all primary schools to ensure children’s participation in education.
  • A 12-member committee of students is constituted in every school to assist the school management.
  • The Cabinet is organised by children at schools to look after the entire school activities. It provides an stage for children to discuss all the issues pertaining to school, society, health, hygiene and education.
  • Child rights are also discussed and actions are taken to implement any decision of the cabinet. The aim of the constitution of Child Cabinet is to inculcate democratic values among the children.
  • Child Cabinet also helps to develop leadership quality and communication skills.
  • Similarly, Meena Manch has been established in all upper primary schools of the state.
• Bal Samvad Adalat (Courts Of Dialogue With Children)
  • ‘Bal Samvad Adalat’ has proved to be highly effective in disposal of cases relating to minor offences of juvenile lawbreakers.
  • The court functions on the basis of consultations with children through a dialogue, facilitated by Juvenile Justice Boards in some districts of Bihar. This is a unique process, which has been initiated only in Bihar.
  • A Bal Samvad Adalat has also been established at Patna High Court. The first special Child Dialogue Court is already functional at Civil Court, Patna.
  • Additionally, Bal Mitra Nyayalaya is being established in all districts of Bihar.

Covid-19 Response

• Administering Anganwadi Centers during Covid-19
  • The Directorate of ICDS continuously issued directives for the dissemination and implementation of Covid-19 safety norms and strict adherence to it.
  • In Bihar, 1.04 lakh AWCs were operational in March, 2020, when the Covid-19-induced lockdown was imposed. During the lockdown, all AWCs remained operational for service delivery and home visits.
  • Also, guidelines were issued by ICDS Directorate for safe distribution of ration, with precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
• Mid-Day Meal Initiative
  • Under National Food Security Act, foodgrains have been distributed among the guardians of the beneficiary students belonging to government and government-aided schools, because of the closure of schools during the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • The admissible conversion cost is being transferred to the account of Beneficiary students/guardians through MEGHASOFT of National Informatics Centre (NIC).
    • Between April, 2020 and March, 2021, tonnes of foodgrains were distributed among the beneficiaries, following the instructions related to the control of the pandemic.
    • In total, the conversion cost, Rs. 1704.96 crore has been transferred to the account of the beneficiaries.
• Additional Benefits to Migrants
  • Once the lockdown was imposed after the pandemic hit, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development issued instructions to the State Governments in June, 2020 to provide required assistance to migrant families, through the AWCs.
  • The Directorate of ICDS in Bihar had issued instructions to all the field offices to include the migrant families in AWCs and provide milk powder to the children of migrant families as an immediate relief.
    • Later, the Directorate sent instructions to include migrant families in the ICDS Services, according to the age group of the family members.
  • It was also observed by the Directorate that children and adolescents required special support to come out of the stress caused by the Covid-19 situations.
    • To lessen the distress of children and adolescents, the ICDS Directorate issued letter to field functionaries for special e-learning on stress management, using some IEC materials.
• Initiatives to Complete the Course
  • To bridge the learning loss of children during Covid-19 because of the closure of schools, the State Government devised catch-up courses for Class II to Class X students.
  • For this, the course materials were printed and then in all Subject experts were also involved in the process of designing the course materials.
    • Three-month catch-up classes were started, focusing on bridging the learning gap in conventional subjects.
  • To implement this, state-level training programme was organised for Master Trainers (MT), With 8 MTS from each district. These MTS imparted training to trainers at the district level.
    • Thereafter, all the teachers were given orientation training for starting the catch-up course.
  • After the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools were reopened in August, 2021 for Classes IX-X students and, on September 2021 , for Classes I-VIII students.
  • The catch-up courses were continued till November 2021. After the completion of catch-up courses, school-based assessment was organised to identify the learning loss of the children.
  • Under the catch-up course, students were taught Mathematics, Science, Social Science, and Languages for improving their skill and bridging their learning loss.
• e-LOTS (e-Library of Teachers & Students)
  • The State Government has developed and launched portal e-LOTS (e-library Of Teachers & Students) to meet the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • In this portal, all textbooks, concerned educational videos, reference videos (along with the link of DIKSHA Portal) and other Teachers’ Resource materials have been made available.
  • This portal is supposed to promote online learning of students belonging to Classes I-XII. The digitised textbooks can also be accessed using the Quick Response (QR) Code.
  • It may also accessed through android mobile apps.
• Mera Doordarshan Mera Vidyalaya
  • The classes for the students belonging to Classes I-XII are being run on Doordarshan (DD) Bihar and a 5-hour slot has allotted by DD to Bihar Education Project Council. Classes are run on TV in the same manner as it used to run in schools.
  • ‘Safe Saturday Programme‘ is being run on Saturdays and ‘Art Integrated Learning‘ is being telecast on Sundays.
  • According to the district reports, approximately 56.36 lakh children of Class I-XII have been viewing the ‘Mera Doordarshan Mera Vidyalaya’ programme. This mode was continued up to December, 2021.
• New Session Admission
  • The Bihar Education Project Council has conducted ‘Praveshotsav – Special Enrolment Drive‘ during 08-25, 2021.
  • During this drive, children of 6 years of age were enrolled in Class 1 and special attention was given for enrolment in Class VI and Class IX to ensure that all children are enrolled in the school and there is no dropout.
  • The teachers and frontline government workers conducted door to door Surveys to identify and enrol out-of-school children. As a result, about 36.77 lakh new children were enrolled in schools.