New Delhi, Dec 05: The government has approved setting up of 15 new medical and 57 degree level engineering colleges in various parts of the country during the current financial year, the Rajya Sabha was informed today. Minister of State for Human Resource Development Dr Vallabhbhai Kathiria said the engineering colleges would be opened in Andhra Pradesh (4), Chandigarh (1), Delhi (1), Haryana (3), Himachal Pradesh (2), Jharkhand (1), Gujarat (1), Karnataka (2), Kerala (10), Madhya Pradesh (10), Punjab (6), Rajasthan (8), Tamil Nadu (1), and West Bengal (7).
Medical colleges would be set up in Andhra Pradesh (6), Gujarat (1), Haryana (1), Kerala (2), Maharashtra (2), Tamil Nadu (2) and Uttranachal (1).
'Slow' states: the Centre has written to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa on their being ''too slow'' in implementing Central government-funded education-for-all programme.
Minister of State Dr Sanjay Paswan today told the upper house. Responding to another question of girl education, the minister said a new programme had been prepared for girls' elementary education to be implemented in 21 states.
The Central government has also set up a target for this year to enroll children between the age of 6 and 14, the minister said.
Giving details, Dr Paswan said all children in the age range are to be in school/ EGS centre or bridge course by 2003.
National plan of action for children: the government is in the process of preparing a national plan of action for children which will contain the goals, objectives and strategies in order to improve the situation of the children in the country.
Magic-syllabus: the Centre has no proposal to include magic in syllabus, Dr Paswan said adding that the question of consideration of such a proposal did not arise as it would give rise to superstition among people.
Simultaneously, the government has also no proposal to allocate funds to propagate ''reason and science'' and wage a war against ''superstition and'' magic,'' he added.
Reader's club movement: more than 40000 reader's clubs have been established in schools, non- formal centres and libraries all over the country as part of the initiatives of the National Book Trust to encourage children to read meaningful literature.
Bureau Report