Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday announced the setting up of a state-level teachers recruitment board to streamline the process of employing teachers.

"This board will also help to introduce the semester system in colleges from the current academic session, except in the arts stream, and help to avoid any delay in the recruitment process of teachers," Hooda said while presiding over a review meeting of the education department.

Teachers are currently recruited in the state through the staff selection commission.

"A state-level committee would be constituted to prepare the new syllabus for the students. A conference of vice-chancellors of various universities of the state would be called soon to discuss the education system," the chief minister said.

Hooda directed officials of the education department to evolve a strategy to make up for the deficiency of teachers, especially in primary schools.

"At least three teachers should be there in a primary school as against two teachers at present. A sum of Rs.5,300 crore (Rs.53 billion) would be spent on giving quality education to students during the current financial year," he said.

"An amount of Rs.450 crore would be spent on providing monthly scholarships and other benefits to students belonging to Scheduled Castes, backward classes and from BPL (Below Poverty Line) families," he added.

Around 850,000 students in Haryana presently get benefits under various schemes for Scheduled Castes and BPL category, Hooda pointed out.

In Haryana, there are approximately 2,200 educational institutions (schools and colleges) where around 4.6 million (46 lakh) students study. IANS