Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo today chaired a comprehensive review meeting of the Education Department to assess the progress in teaching-learning outcomes, infrastructure development, and integration of technological interventions aimed at transforming the education ecosystem in J&K.
The meeting was attended by Secretary, School Education Department; Mission Director, Samagra Shiksha; Director, School Education, Jammu; Secretary, JKBOSE; and other senior officers of the department.
The Chief Secretary emphasized the need for creating well-defined milestones and timelines for implementing the department’s long-term strategic plans. He directed that all technological initiatives under the Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) be completed expeditiously to ensure enhanced learning outcomes, adding that progress under these components would be reviewed regularly.
The Chief Secretary also advised the department to devise a comprehensive roadmap for resolving HR-related issues, ensuring rational deployment of teaching staff and smooth management of service-related matters in the best interest of the teaching community.
During the meeting, Secretary Education, Ram Niwas Sharma informed that 15 districts of the UT have achieved over 95% literacy rate under the ULLASNav Bharat Saksharta Karyakram (NBSK). These districts include Jammu, Doda, Kathua, Poonch, Rajouri, Samba, Ramban, and Udhampur in Jammu Division, and Anantnag, Baramulla, Pulwama, Kulgam, Ganderbal, Shopian, and Srinagar in Kashmir Division.
He further apprised that the department has prepared a five-year perspective plan for seeking special assistance from the Centre to address critical infrastructure and technology gaps.
The plan envisions interventions such as establishment of ICT/CAL labs, Smart Classrooms, Vocational and STEM Labs, Virtual Reality setups, AI and Coding kits, Astrophysics labs, and promotion of Open Schooling, besides ensuring child-friendly furniture, assessment reforms, mainstreaming skill education, and setting up residential schools and hostels.
It was also informed that private schools are being encouraged to participate in the VSK initiative, which includes digital marking of teacher and student attendance and access to curated e-learning materials available through the platform.
The department further revealed plans to review matriculation and higher secondary results from this academic year to instil greater accountability among teaching staff. Enhanced focus will also be laid on vocational education to improve students’ employability prospects.
Highlighting capacity-building initiatives, the meeting was informed that 78,975 elementary and 21,926 secondary school teachers have been trained under the NISHTHA programme, in addition to 21,000 teachers trained through DIETs across the UT.
Moreover, 1.41 lakh students have received vocational training in 1,350 schools through 2,187 vocational trainers. A total of 619 Anganwadi Centres have also been co-located with primary schools for effective implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020.
The meeting reviewed progress under PM SHRI and other centrally sponsored schemes, including the Capex Budget. It was informed that significant strides have been made in implementing the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) mission, and the department is preparing to roll out the Personalized Adaptive Learning(PAL) system to strengthen student welfare and enhance enrolment in government schools.