The central government has expressed significant displeasure over the alarmingly low participation from Maharashtra in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship 'Pariksha Pe Charcha 9' initiative. This concern has prompted the state's school education department to issue urgent directives to district-level officers, instructing them to immediately ramp up student registrations for the annual programme.
Centre's Disappointment Triggers Urgent Action
According to an official letter dated December 22, the Joint Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy in the Union Ministry of Education conveyed the Centre's disappointment. The letter, issued by the Director of Secondary Education in Maharashtra, explicitly references this communication, highlighting the gravity of the situation. The state has been set a formidable target of 65 lakh (6.5 million) student participants. However, data current as of December 22 revealed a stark shortfall, with only 2,78,537 students from Maharashtra having registered, a figure that triggered concern at the highest levels.
Administrative Push for Maximum Participation
In response to the Centre's feedback, the state education machinery has been galvanized into action. District-level education officers have been instructed to take all necessary steps to boost numbers. This includes convening meetings with headmasters, principals, and field-level officers to ensure every school in their jurisdiction participates actively. School heads have a clear mandate: they must proactively encourage students, teachers, and parents to register for the programme and subsequently submit detailed reports of their outreach efforts to the Directorate of Education.
While the official letter cites the Centre's "displeasure," State Education Department Secretary Ranjit Singh Deol offered a different perspective. He described the process as a standard administrative review aimed at encouraging greater participation, rather than solely an expression of discontent.
How to Register for Pariksha Pe Charcha 9
The registration and participation mechanism for Pariksha Pe Charcha 9 is an online competition hosted on the https://innovateindia.mygov.in website. The competition, open to students from Classes 6 to 12, as well as teachers and parents, runs from December 1 to January 11. Earlier circulars from the department on December 3 and December 8 had already informed schools about this process. The current push is a concerted effort to ensure the initial instructions translate into massive on-ground registration numbers.
Pariksha Pe Charcha is an annual dialogue pioneered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, designed to foster a stress-free and positive approach towards examinations. The programme facilitates a direct interaction between the PM and students, teachers, and parents, addressing crucial topics like mental well-being, effective preparation strategies, and managing exam pressure.
