Every successful UPSC candidate aspires to give something back to society. And 2019 batch IAS officer Sumit Yadav was no different. After getting his first posting and working in the field, he understood that a lot needed to be done in the education sector. He identified the big gaps between the private and the government schools.
So, he started off by introducing changes in the government schools, to being them at par with the best private schools in the area. Wherever he gets posted, he does something extraordinary for schools and takes initiatives to modernise education and make it interesting for the students.
In the last one year as CDO of Moradabad, he built the Sugamya Library for Divyang people, first of its kind in UP. He also created more than 650 libraries in every gram panchayat, 30 science labs, and provided computer education to thousands of children. His passion for providing better education to all is ushering in a noticeable change in the sector.
Speaking exclusively with Indian Masterminds in this video interview, Mr. Sumit Yadav explained his initiatives in the education sector in detail and shared why he is so passionate about education and students.
SUGAMYA LIBRARY
Few months ago, the Commissioner of Moradabad had held a divisional meeting and laid out the vision of providing better education facilities for Divyang (disabled) children, and the responsibility of turning this vision into reality was entrusted to the city’s CDO, IAS officer Sumit Yadav.
A target was set to create a library in the city which is suitable for disabled children, in order to fill the gaps in the learning outcomes of children. And the outcome has been commendable.
The building was constructed with the support of the district Panchayat. All necessary facilities ranging from books to sports equipment and geometrical cubes were procured through CSR. The library is for children of class 1 to class 8. Currently, 45 children come to the library regularly, and there have been times when more than 80 children had landed up at the same time. A total of 9 special educators have been appointed to help the children in three shifts.
FACILITIES
Books of the syllabus for classes 1-8 have been made available for blind children in Braille script. Some story books have are also available in Braille. If anyone wants to learn Braille, the facility has been provided along with the Braille script. There is also a hi-tech DG player, in which anyone can record any book in audio and take it home.
Also, books in higher fonts have been kept in the library for low vision children and magnifying glasses are also provided.
Special educators have been appointed for children who have hearing impairment or any other problem. They are experts in sign language and teach and educate children in it. Along with this, a speech therapy machine has also been installed to cater to the special needs children.
Basic facilities for the disabled like comfortable chairs, tables, toilets and ramps to reach the library are also in place, so that even the orthopaedically handicapped can easily avail the facilities in the library and brighten their future.
Mr. Yadav said, “Our target is to help children after school hours and enhance their skills and talents. A supportive mechanism is being developed so that we can enhance their learning outcome.”
RESPONSE
The library has received excellent response so far. Not only the children but also their parents come to the library and take pride in the facilities available.
The residents are grateful to have such a library in their city. Mr. Yadav said, “After seeing such a wonderful response, we are now trying to build such libraries in all the eight blocks of the district.”
MORE EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES
The officer came to Moradabad from Barabanki last year, in September 2022. In Barabanki too, he had received a lot of love and respect from the public because of his many works in the field of education, ranging from smart classes to libraries.
Soon after his posting in Moradabad, he started many similar initiatives here also. Prominent among these are ‘Mera Gaon, Mera Library’, ‘Mission Daksha’ and ‘Book Donation, Maha Donation’.
Under the initiative, ‘My Village, My Library’, he provided a reading space to children in all the gram panchayats of the district. And to get more books on diverse topics, he started the ‘Book Donation, Maha Donation’ campaign, where people donated their old books. This way, the administration received more than 1.50 lakh books, many even from different states.
For better operation of the library, a committee was formed at the Gram Panchayat level, which now manages it. A total of 643 libraries were built in Gram Panchayats, 8 big libraries in every block, and a full fledged one is already functional in the district level.
MISSION DAKSHA
Mr. Yadav also launched ‘Mission Daksha’ to provide technical knowledge to children. This initiative is for rural children only. He believes that along with basic education, it is important for children to have computer knowledge from childhood. Under this initiative, a Mission Daksha portal and an app were developed. Twenty five schools were selected in the first phase of this project. Three thousand children are now getting computer education. Twenty five laptops were procured with CSR funds.
The administration also hired 25 volunteers to teach the children a basic course that was especially designed for them.
LABS
Under the new education policy’s theme – Learn by Doing – the district administration has built more than 30 labs in the village panchayats, which have models ranging from physics to chemistry so that children can understand easily.
EDUCATION REVOLUTION
Mr. Yadav also said that after joining service, he realized that there was a huge difference in the facilities provided in private and government schools.
“That is why, I decided that wherever I get posted, I must work in the field of education first. I must take initiatives to start smart classes, create libraries, built labs, etc. And when revolutionary changes come in the field of education, the country will develop fast on every scale.”
