Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the state government is making continuous changes in the education system to ensure the holistic development of students at all levels.

“The main objective of education is to develop the potential of students and make them responsible citizens,” said Sukhu while addressing the annual function at Pinegrove School in Dharampur, Solan, on Sunday.

He said that in the financial year 2024-25, the education budget in the state has been increased by 17 per cent as compared to last year.

“To prepare the students for the challenges of the future, while education through English medium has been started in government schools from the first class, Rajiv Gandhi Government Day Boarding Schools are being opened in every assembly constituency with a view to the overall development of the students,” he said.

Sukhu said, “Our government is making concerted efforts to make the students well-educated and sensitive. To make the students sensitive towards environment and water conservation, it has been decided to install rain water harvesting systems and grid connected ‘Roof Top Plants’ in day-boarding schools.”

The Chief Minister said that the state government has launched the ambitious Dr YS Parmar Vidyarthi Rin Yojana of Rs 200 crore to provide better education to the meritorious students of the poor section of the society.

The state government has decided that under this scheme, eligible students willing to pursue education in professional courses in educational institutions abroad will be provided the benefit of the scheme, he said.

He said that libraries are being established at the Gram Panchayat level in the state to provide better education and quality reading material to the students at the village level.

As many as 493 libraries are being established in the first phase. He said that 850 educational institutions of the state are being developed as excellent educational institutions.

Sukhu said that courses like Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Machine Learning and Drone Training are being started in technical educational institutions with the aim of providing better self-employment and employment to the youth as per the future demand.

He said that employment fairs and campus interviews are also being organized in all educational institutions so that the youth can get employment according to their ability.He said that along with education, the state government is also paying attention to the health of the youth.

“Mukhyamantri Bal Poshan Aahar Yojana has been started to provide nutritious food to the students at the school level. As many as 15,181 children of the state up to eighth class are benefitting from this scheme,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that the state government is bearing the education and other expenses of five thousand orphan children under the Chief Minister Sukh Ashray Yojana.

The state government is making efforts to provide quality education to all the youth of the state near their homes, he said.