Soon,Scouts & Guides volunteers could get 25 marks extra

“The state government has been supportive of all our programmes. This proposal is pending and we hope it will come through in the state. The proposal would give students opting for the subject a benefit of 25 marks,” said BI Nagrale,state chief commissioner,MSBSG. The meet is conducted once in four years — the earlier meets were held at Nashik,Latur,Akola and Mumbai. “This is the first time that the meet is taking place in Pune and the numbers – nearly 10,000 Scouts & Guides – are also unprecedented,” said Nagrale,who puts the present strength of such volunteers in the state at 15 lakh.

At present,the course is optional and can be chosen by students of any school. Nagrale said giving the children additional marks would be beneficial for the course. “We hope the Chief Minister will approve our proposal,” he says.

State secretary Shobhana Jadhav,who is arranging the meet,said arrangement were in place for around 10,000 students selected from various schools in the state.

“The students are from tribal schools,corporation schools as well state-run schools and they will all come together for the weeklong event. We have charted out fun activities,adventure and entertainment programmes,trekking,visit to the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology campus as well as a padayatra,” said Jadhav,adding that the students have been divided into groups that have been given names of the forts in the state.

Even as the state is leading in the number of registrations,efforts are on to augment the numbers further,said Nagrale “There are around 70,000 teachers across the state. We want to increase the number of both students and teachers and keep the movement going,” he said.