Go for absolute majority in civic polls: Ajit Pawar to party cadre

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar,addressing NCP workers in the city on Saturday,urged them to make sure the party wins absolute majority in the civic polls.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar,addressing NCP workers in the city on Saturday,urged them to make sure the party wins absolute majority in the civic polls. The party shares power in PMC with the Congress.

Later in the day,he attended an event hosted by the Rotary Club of Pune East where computer systems and distance education software were donated to 27 schools in rural areas and slums. Elaborating on the project,Rtn. Dilip Deshpande,project chairman,said the software was available in Marathi and English and had animated features to capture interest of students.

Praising these efforts,Pawar stressed school reforms. He said eligibility bar for school teachers should be raised. Today,our state needs 20,000 primary teachers a year. DEd. colleges send out 75,000 diploma holders each year. To provide all of them jobs is not possible. Eligibility for the course is class XII and primary teachers get into the profession at a young age of 19, he said adding graduation could be the eligibility.

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He said the honorarium for Shikshan Sevaks was poor and the government was working towards increasing it. He said he was against demands of some leaders for separate schools for each community,One school for SC,one for ST and one for NT (Nomadic Tribes) will lead to communalism.

Leaders like Vrushali Deshpande who quit MNS,Harish Khedekar who left Shiv Sena and Firoz Khan who left SP to join the NCP were felicitated. Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal and NCP city chief Vandana Chavan were present.

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