RANCHI, Sept. 17 -- Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren said on Tuesday that his government had initiated a process to recruit 26,000 assistant school teachers in the state and underlined that the education department was taking all measures to upgrade the government-run schools at par with private schools. Addressing an event for distribution of appointment letters to newly-appointed 131 graduate trained assistant teachers (Mathematics and Science) and intermediate trained 170 assistant teachers (Class 1 to 5) of Godda district, the chief minister said that the new recruits would become the backbone of the field of education in the state. "About 301 assistant teachers are being appointed today. Similar appointments have been made even before this. A process has been started for recruitment of 26,000 more teachers in the state," the chief minister said. "Continuous steps are being taken towards improving the education system of Jharkhand. Our government is doing better work in the field of primary, secondary, degree-based, engineering, medical or other higher education institutions. The government is also moving forward with the goal of giving a positive direction to the future of our coming generation. The process of appointments in the education department is on," he added. Highlighting the role of technology in the fast changing world, the CM said that there was a time when children used slate instead of note books, but, at present, everything is becoming digital. "In the field of education, digital blackboards have started replacing blackboards. Today, we have to increase our speed to move forward in the field of education. "There are many challenges here. On one side is the government system, on the other side is private schools. Today, all of you have been selected so that all of you newly-appointed Assistant Acharyas become the backbone of the field of education," the chief minister added. The CM shared happiness that the effort of the state government was paying dividends as many parents are transferring their wards from private schools to the CM School of Excellence. "Because many people are not in a position to pay money in private schools, we have started Utkrisht Vidyalaya with quality. Although there is still a need to incorporate better things in CM Utkrisht Schools. All these will be completed very soon. It is a priority to run government schools at par with private schools," the CM said. Labour and employment minister Sanjay Prasad Yadav, additional chief secretary to the CM Avinash Kumar, education secretary Uma Shankar Singh, project director, Shashi Ranjan, primary education director Manoj Ranjan along with a large number of newly-appointed assistant teachers and their families were present....