Talking to reporters, she said the State government had already procured the Central nod for the establishment of a `Science City' in Gandhinagar on the lines of the one in Calcutta. Patel said the project would entertain as well as educate students on the latest technological developments.

``Science can be interesting only when students are taught innovatively, with the help of models'', the minister said, adding that it was with the aim of making experiment facilities available to non-urban students that the government was planning to float 40 vans to cover the rural schools.

Though there were many cities in the State that did not have community science centres, the government would initially focus on corporation areas, Patel said, adding that the first centre would come up in Surat.

Alongside innovative teaching methods, the State government was trying to upgrade the mid-day meal scheme, the minister said. However, to ensure that food did not become the only attraction for students from the economically backward classes, who make up the majority of government school strengths, teachers would also play prayers and rhymes on cassettes, she added.

On the ban on recruitment of teachers, Patel said the government was overburdened by the number of surplus teachers. ``At least 1,300 teachers are getting paid though they have no work'', she said, adding that fresh applications could be sought only after the present surplus teachers had been absorbed.

However, she said, the government was giving no-objection certificates to schools who needed teachers for particular subjects like English.

The minister said the State government had given a one-year deadline to committees working on formulating a university syllabus in accordance with University Grants Commission guidelines.

However, she refused to comment on who would become the next Vice-Chancellor of M S University or the imbroglio sparked by the suspension of former South Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor Ashwin Kapadia.

Sidestepping the touchy subject of the ongoing teachers' strike, Patel said though the State government was trying to represent their case, the decision rested with the Centre.

The minister also clarified that there was no possibility of introducing medical and engineering entrance examinations or doing away with one of the board examinations.