Shimla: Newly appointed Education Minister Govind Singh Thakur announced to implement National Education Policy-2020 during the review meeting of Higher Education Department here today.

Govind Singh Thakur said that Himachal Pradesh has always done an excellent work in the field of education and will do its best in the country in implementing the National Education Policy-2020. There is continuous progress in the state in the field of higher education.

Education Minister said that Rs. 92 crore has been sanctioned by the Central Government under the National Higher Education Campaign-2 (RUSA) in the state. He said that Rs. 55 crore have been sanctioned for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Cluster University Mandi in the state. Facilities like gym, amphitheatre, solar power plant, instruments, science, language, IT laboratories, libraries etc. are being provided in various colleges under RUSA.

During the meeting, Secretary Education Rajiv Sharma informed that in the year 2018-19, Rs. 8.80 crore was spent on 25249 students under various centrally sponsored scholarship schemes, while Rs. 12.21 crore was spent on 38312 students under various state sponsored scholarship schemes. In the year 2019-20, free course books were distributed to 1,03,134 students, on which Rs. 11.89 crore was spent. Free uniform was distributed to 1,59,509 students in the year 2019-20 under the Atal School Uniform Scheme by spending Rs. 13.05 crore. In the year 2019-20, Rs. 2.33 crore were released for the activities of the National Service Scheme (NSS).