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Celebrating

QualityThe Gunotsav InitiativeIn 2009, Government of Gujarat began a novel initiative called Gunotsav, which aims at bringing quality to primary education. Led by cm himself, ministers and officials visit primary schools for three days every year

Gunotsav, a three-day annual programme aimed at improving quality of primary educa-tion in Government of Gujarat-run schools, is now in its third year. Senior functionaries, in-cluding the Chief Minister and other ministers, and approximately 3000 government officials, including senior IAS, IFS and IPS officers, per-sonally visit over 30,000 primary schools.

Students are assessed on basis of their reading, writing and math skills. Students till the fifth standard are tested in Hindi, Gujarati and Math. Students of 6-8 standards are also tested in English. The identity of the school, which has to be visited, remains a secret till the day of inspection. The schools are graded from A-C depending on the performance of students.

At Gunotsav 2011, CM Narendra Modi vis-ited primary schools Banaskantha district’s Danta taluka, in north Gujarat. Modi spent time with teachers, and students in Jashwant Gadh and Bhemal villages.

This year, around 8,000 primary schools – one-fourth of all primary schools in the state – will be inspected as part of Gunotsav.

Besides education, schools will be rated on parameters such as cleanliness, water, power, greenery and quality of mid-day meal. The NGO Pratham has been roped in to con-duct a third party audit of the entire Gunotsav 2011.

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A photo feature on Narendra Modi’s first day in Gunotsav 2011