Bihar Polls: Nitish Showers More Sops In Bihar, This Time On Education Sector Workers

Patna: In yet another major announcement in poll-bound Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, on Friday, doubled the honorarium given to mid-day meal scheme cooks, night guards, and physical training and health instructors employed in government schools. He also hiked the annual increment given to them from Rs 200 to Rs 400.

“We have decided to increase the honorarium given to the cooks working in the mid-day meal scheme under the education department by twofold from Rs 1650 to Rs 3300 per month. We have also decided to double the honorarium given to the night guards working at secondary and higher secondary schools from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 per month,” Nitish said in an early morning post on the social media platform X.

Writing further, the Chief Minister added that “the honorarium given to physical training and health instructors has also been doubled from Rs 8000 per month to Rs 16,000 per month. Additionally, we have decided to increase their (cooks, night guards, physical training and health instructors) annual increment from Rs 200 to Rs 400.”

Nitish asserted that the cooks, night guards, physical training and health instructors have played an important role in strengthening the education system in the state. The move would boost their morale, and they would work with more enthusiasm and dedication.

“We have been continuously working to improve the education system in the state ever since forming the government in November 2005. The education budget was Rs 4,366 crore in 2005, which has now gone up to Rs 77,690. Extensive improvements have happened in education due to the large-scale appointment of teachers, construction of new school buildings and development of the basic infrastructure,” he said in the post.

Currently, the Bihar government is providing mid-day meal at 70,202 of its primary, upper primary schools. Many of them have two or more cooks, depending on the number of students.

The physical training and health instructors and night guards are employed at around 10,000 government secondary and higher secondary schools in the state. The mid-day meal scheme cooks had been agitating for a hike in their honorarium for the past several years and held several demonstrations in Patna to press for their demands.

With the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections expected to be held around November this year, the Bihar Chief Minister has been on a ‘sop-showering spree’ over the past three months, touching almost the entire 13.07 crore population of the state. Nitish has announced several development and welfare schemes, including increasing various social security pensions given to senior citizens, widows, and physically challenged people from Rs 400 to Rs 1100 per month.

He recently announced 125 units of free electricity for all domestic consumers in the state, and the formation of commissions to consider ways for the welfare of youths and sanitation workers, and the redevelopment of Goddess Sita’s birthplace at Sitamarhi. On Wednesday, the Chief Minister had hiked the incentives given to over 90,000 ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) and 7,500 Mamata workers working in the health sector to Rs 3000 per month and Rs 600 per delivery, respectively.

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