DW BUREAU / shimla Education Minister Govind Singh Thakur emphasized on implementing National Education Policy-2020 during the review meeting of Higher Education Department here on Monday. Govind Singh Thakur said that Himachal Pradesh has always done an excellent work in the field of education and will do its best in the country in implementing the National Education Policy-2020. There is continuous progress in the state in the field of higher education. There are 1872 Government Senior Secondary Schools, 929 Government Higher Secondary Schools, 1511 Private Senior Secondary and Higher Schools, 129 Government Degree Colleges, four Government B.Ed. College, 71 Private BEd College, 54 private colleges and 17 private universities in the state. The state has also been awarded the Best Performing Award in Education-2019 and National Skotch Award of Merit for Quality Education in 2019. Education Minister said that during the tenure of present government, a total of 348597 students have enrolled in colleges of the state. In the year 2018-19, the gross enrollment ratio at the secondary level (10th) in the state was 107.74 percent while at the higher secondary level (12th) the ratio was 85 percent. The student-teacher ratio at the secondary level in the year 2018-19 in the state was 13.9 percent while at the senior secondary level this ratio was 10.49 percent. The department has spent Rs. 2962.60 crore in the year 2019-20 and a budget provision of Rs. 3671.95 crore has been made for the year 2020-21. As many as 1171 construction works allotted by the department in the state have been completed while 314 works are under progress. Govind Singh Thakur said that Rs. 92 crore has been sanctioned by the Central Government under the National Higher Education Campaign-2 (RUSA) in the state. He said that Rs 55 crore have been sanctioned for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Cluster University Mandi in the state. (editor@dailyworld.in)