news details |
|
|
| J&K Govt to Make Education 'Human Resource Sector' | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 28: Terming as "challenging" the aim to improve education sector in Jammu and Kashmir, state education minister Naeem Akhtar today said the government will focus on creating a knowledge-based society.
"The education set up in Jammu and Kashmir has suffered systemic damage. The focus and challenge for us is to bring back state educational sector from infrastructure development department to human resources development department," Naeem told reporters here today.
"It is a big challenge. I am not a politician. We have to focus on child rather than a teacher or building. Over the years, the focus has been changed and it is now infrastructure development department and not human resources development department. I have to change this perception," he said.
"We focus is on reforms in educational sector. My focus is not punitive administrative actions but my failure and success will be judged on whether I will be able to bring reforms in educational sector. With Rs 6,000 crores available to us, I should be able to give best possible education setup in the state," he said.
"Our actions will be not punitive it will based on reforms and human touch," he said. On academics, Naeem said, "We will relate their progress and performance to their academic performance. We will bring out chart of duties and it will be included in that."
Naeem said that the coalition government is determined about course correction in education and creation of a knowledge-based society.
Naeem said, "J&K has historically been the source of knowledge and enlightenment in South Asia. The first Buddhist conference was held in Kashmir in the 4th century, this place was known as Sharda Peeth (seat of knowledge)."
"Even up to contemporary times, iconic people like Krishna Joo Razdan, Shiv Kumar Sharma, K L Sehgal and Mallika Pukhraj were born here. In not very distant past, Lal Ded and Sheikh Nuruddin Wali were born. Wali set up the first girls school in Kashmir during times when girl literacy was unheard of in South Asia."
He said that J&K had dropped down to 6th Rank in the country in terms of literacy rate.
"Today our literacy rate has dropped to 6th rank in the country. The vision is to achieve 100 per cent literacy level among females," Akhtar said.
"We have a big educational system. The focus had been employment, employing people and infrastructure development. It seems the focus was to create infrastructure not but not human resource development," he said.
"We have not been able to use this tremendous infrastructure to educate the child. That is our irony. We are trying to set that right."
In Jammu and Kashmir, we have 24,265 schools with an enrollment of 60.68 lakh and I feel it needs verification, he said, adding that we have a teaching staff of 1,43,103.
The annual investment in our school education is Rs 5,432 crore and in college Rs 7,000 crore, he said.
"What I am producing and giving back to society. The government schools pass percentage is about 50 per cent, while private school percentage is higher than that," he said. "In the Jammu province during the last five years, just four students have figured in the top 20 in class X exams," Akhtar said.
He raised the issue of falling pupil-teacher ratio in the government schools and said there are 174 schools in J&K where there is no student at all.
"We have started the process of rationalisation. We will relocate teachers from the schools where students are very less or not at all and put them where there is a need for more teachers," he said, adding that no schools would be closed.
The government would soon begin an enrollment drive.
The minister said education setup here is "a juggernaut which is either focused on employment or creation of infrastructure and the least spoken about in the present educational system of the state is the child."
He said the most difficult problem for the department has been postings and transfers of teachers.
"It is not fully verified, but I have been told that there has been a racket in transfers and postings and the racket goes right up to the exam centre where bids were held at astronomical rates to manage exams," he said.
Accordingly, the minister has directed Deputy Commissioners of the districts to undertake personal monitoring on the examination centers and fix accountability.
"We will ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency. I will make government schools competitive and attractive so that people send their children to these schools and not pay exorbitant rates at places where education had been reduced to a lucrative business," Akhtar said.
He also said that relocation of teachers to places where their services are gainfully utilised, postings of teacher couples together at convenient places where they can deliver and incentives like laptops to middle school headmasters are just the beginning to make the turnaround possible. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
