PS (SED) Alok Kumar reviews progress of various interventions of Samagra Shiksha.

GNS ONLINE RAJOURI 
SHYAM SOOD 

RAJOURI, JULY 09:–Principal Secretary, School Education Department (SED), Alok Kumar (IRS) assured that by March 2024 every school in the UT of J&K will have minimum facilities while new buildings shall be constructed for 119 schools (having no building at present), 3 hostels, 704 ACRs, & 52 Teacher quarters during this period.
Alok Kumar disclosed this in a meeting chaired by him at Srinagar on Sunday to review the progress of Samagra Shiksha scheme.
The meeting was attended by the Project Director Samagra Shiksha, Deep Raj; Director School Education, Jammu, Ashok Sharma; Director School Education Kashmir, Tassaduq Hussain; Special Secretary SED, Nasir A. Wani; Deputy Director Planning, Bilal Rashid; Chief Account Officer, Abhishek Talwaria; Field Advisor, Jagdeep Padha; all Chief Education Officers/ Principals DIETs of J&K; all Executive Engineers of SED; all-State Coordinators/ASCs of Samagra Shiksha, and other concerned officers/officials of the department through Physical/Virtual mode.
Deep Raj gave a detailed presentation regarding progress achieved in the year 2022-23 and a roadmap for the execution of projects for the year 2023-24 as per PAB approvals.
“During 2022-23, Rs. 1377 Crores i.e 75 % of the funds was utilized for the implementation of different interventions of the Samagra Shiksha across the UT. 800 Civil works have been completed with a cost of Rs 160 crore, whereas only 343 works were completed in the previous year,” said Deep Raj.
“For the first time Library Books worth Rs. 17.00 Crore were procured and stands supplied to various Institutions to enhance the reading capabilities of the Students. Waterproof tents for Seasonal Centers and whole school safety manuals were provided to all institutions in the last fiscal, to give access to the Students and enhance their learning outcomes in line with the NEP,” he added.
Deep Raj informed that Vocational Education, which was running in 553 Schools, now extended to 514 new schools raising the number to 1067.
Alok Kumar while reviewing the components of Samagra Shiksha interacted with all CEOs on various issues.
He asked for ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education with a focus on ‘children with special needs’.
He expressed concern over the drop in the gross enrolment ratio and net enrolment ratio from primary to upper primary level & asked for concerted action from the department to arrest this trend.
“Increase in the dropout ratio beyond an acceptable level in a given school shall be the responsibility of the concerned Teacher. Reduce the dropout rate to a minimal value among all grades so that the department may achieve the ‘sustainable development goal’ by 2030 as per National Education Policy- 2020,” said Principal Secretary Alok Kumar.
He also appreciated the efforts of the teachers & concerned stakeholders for enrolment of more than 130000 Students across the UT, during the current enrolment drive.
“Monitor each and every activity of Samagra Shiksha in your respective jurisdictions and ensure the 100% retention rate, especially among girls, so that the dream of “Viksit Bharat’” he asked all the CEOs.
Principal Secretary said from the vision of ‘Swachh Bharat’ to the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’-that of seeing India as a truly developed nation by its 100th anniversary of Independence in 2047, Prime Minister Modi has set a progressive and positive agenda for India and which can be achieved by educating our young minds.
“100% Literacy rate needs to be ensured for which School Education Department has to make the NIPUN (National Initiative Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy) successful,” he added.
“Feedback mechanism has been developed and through SAMIKSHA App, the feedback from the children shall be received for their teachers & school and necessary measures, wherever required including capacity building of Teachers cum upgradation of Infrastructure shall be taken. Ensure the use of JK Attendance App for regularity and punctuality” said Alok Kumar.
Threadbare discussion was held to assure minimum facilities in the government schools, including electricity, solar Panels, drinking water, toilets, etc.
Principal Secretary also visited the HSS at Bagat, where he inaugurated the AAGHAZ & Astro Physics laboratories developed as Model Labs by Samagra Shiksha in collaboration with IIT Kanpur.
“376 such labs shall be established across the UT where students shall get a chance to explore their hidden talent and a modest open-minded scientific temper.
“Provide state-of-the-art equipment in these labs to improve the quality of imparting education and to make the students aware of the latest technological interventions,” Alok Kumar asked to concerned officers.
Shabir Hussain, CEO Srinagar; Prof. Anurag from IIT Kanpur; Anjum Raja, Deputy. CEO; Fayaz Ahmed, ASC; in-charge Principal of the school, Shabana Jillani were present on this occasion.