BPSCNotes™

#BiharCurrentAffairs Mithila Haat to boost tourism in Madhubani district: Bihar CM CM Nitish Kumar (on Jan 11) inaugurated ‘Mithila Haat’ at Araria Sangram village under Jhanjharpur block in Madhubani district. The Mithila Haat has been constructed by the water resources department, on the lines of iconic ‘Dilli Haat’ in the national capital, displaying the art and culture of the region such as painting, handicrafts, besides local cuisine. The main purpose behind the Haat is that local people get a better facility of marketing and tourism also gets a boost. Haat’s location along the East-West Corridor (NH-57) would ensure hassle-free access to the iconic facility.

#BiharCurrentAffairs 2022 ASER report: Bihar Despite improvement in infrastructure, midday meal coverage, facilities and increase in enrolment, Bihar continues to grapple with low attendance of both students and teachers in schools and learning outcome is extremely low and almost unchanged in the last four years. The report, led by Pratham Foundation, has also flagged high prevalence of private tuition, which is nearly 2.5 times the national average and points to lack of quality education in the government schools. The report, which covered 52,959 children across 1,140 villages in 38 districts of Bihar, has recommended big changes in practice, appropriate activities and high effort in the classroom to achieve universal basic foundational literacy and numeracy by the time the students complete Grade III by 2025. The report says students’ attendance in Bihar is below 60% in both primary and upper primary schools, as compared to the national average of around 72%, though the state witnessed 4% increase in government school enrolment between 2018 and 2022, reaching 82.2% from 78.1%. The attendance in primary schools increased marginally from 56.5% in 2018 to 59.3% in 2022, while the national average was 72.9%. The teachers’ attendance in primary schools showed higher increase during the period from 68.5% to 80.9%, but still below the national average of 86.8%. The trend was similar in upper primary, where students’ attendance increased from 52.9% to 53.3% during the period against the national average of 71.3%, while teachers attendance increased by 11% points to reach 84%, though still below the national average of 87.5%. Bihar is among the few states which has shown slight learning gains despite school closures forced by the Covid pandemic. However, in 2022, only 13% children in Std III in govt schools could read Std II level text. This figure is 37% for children in govt schools in Std V, 70% in Std VIII. For Std V, reading levels of govt school children in Bihar lag behind the national average and most neighbouring states. Bihar has just 20% children enrolled in private schools and they seem to do better, though they too grapple with poor learning outcomes. In arithmetic levels, Bihar has done better than the national average and all neighbouring states, but still just 30% children in Std V in government schools can do division while this number stands at 58% for Std VIII. In Bihar, tuition levels have been found to be among the highest in India and have increased between 2018 and 2022. Against the nation average of 30.5% students going in for paid tuition, it is 71.7% in Bihar, while it was 53.6% in 2014, 64.3% in 2020 and 73.5% in 2021. Efforts of Bihar Government: - provided new teaching-learning materials to make classes more entertaining. - newly appointed 42,000-odd teachers have been imparted residential training with focus on assessment and learning outcomes. - introduced ‘Bagless Saturday’ in schools for extra-curricular activities. - regular parent-teacher meets. WAY FORWARD To ensure high attendance, classroom interactions in government schools cannot be “business as usual”; they have to be energetic and targeted to the learning level of the child. Progress must be measured and course corrections done accordingly. Far too much time has been lost by not acknowledging that we are facing a chronic and deep learning crisis. A closer look at the vast and varied “tuition” sector is needed to understand what value this sector adds to children’s learning.

BPSCNotes 68th Prelims Test Series 📍Registration started 📍In English only 📍Total 200 seats 📍Total 12 Mock Tests 📍Negative marking(1/4th) 📍Bihar GK, Bihar Current Affairs 📍Bihar Economic Survey 📍Solution with explanation 📍Schedule and Syllabus For Registration visit: https://bpscnotes.com/test-series/

#BiharCurrentAffairs Bihar on Top in Casualties Due to Extreme Weather Events Bihar lost 418 human lives due to the impact of extreme weather events in 2022, the highest in the country, according to the annual statement on Climate of India - 2022 issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Assam stood second with 257 deaths and Uttar Pradesh third with 201. चरम मौसम की घटनाओं के कारण हताहतों की संख्या में बिहार शीर्ष पर है भारत मौसम विज्ञान विभाग (IMD) द्वारा जारी भारत की जलवायु - 2022 पर वार्षिक बयान के अनुसार, 2022 में चरम मौसम की घटनाओं के प्रभाव के कारण बिहार में 418 लोगों की जान चली गई, जो देश में सबसे अधिक है। असम 257 मौतों के साथ दूसरे और उत्तर प्रदेश 201 के साथ तीसरे स्थान पर रहा।

#BiharCurrentAffairs Bihar pitches five major wetlands for Ramsar tag The Bihar government has decided to claim the Ramsar site status for five major wetlands in the state - Kusheshwar Asthan in Darbhanga, Tal Baraila in Vaishali, Gogabil in Katihar, Nagi and Nakati dams in Jamui. Currently, Bihar has only one Ramsar site , Kabar Jheel in Begusarai, which was declared thus in August 2020. Conservation of wetlands are important in keeping with the state government’s plan of making Bihar carbon neutral by 2040. Wetlands are considered a major source for carbon sinking.