AMN
On 16th October, Sunday, Union Minister of State for Education, Dr Subhas Sarkar concluded his three-day visit to Kashmir. He was in the valley as part of the third phase of the Central Government’s Public Outreach Programme.
Addressing media at the end of his tour, Dr Sarkar expressed satisfaction at the overall development in the education sector in the Union Territory of J&K. He said, there is a movement going on in J&K which focuses not only on education but on all-round development of the students which is very heartening to see. Dr Sarkar said that funds received by the Union Territory for education have gone up from 8,000 crore rupees to 9,600 crore rupees in the last two years, which is a matter of pride for Jammu and Kashmir.
The Minister also informed the gathering that according to the National Achievements Survey, the rank of Jammu and Kashmir has improved from 17 to 8 in the last five years. He said, this is a considerable improvement for the Union Territory. Dr Sarkar expressed happiness at the increase in enrolment of children in government schools which he said has gone up considerably in the last two years. He also expressed satisfaction at the setting up of smart classrooms in more and more schools of Jammu and Kashmir.
Talking about the National Education Policy (NEP), the Minister expressed happiness at the speed of progress being made in setting up of infrastructure and said that 70,000 new enrolments have been recorded in Kashmir at the primary level in the recent past. He said that the national curriculum framework with reference to NEP is very democratic in the country and suggestions are taken from all stakeholders including students and their parents for improvement of the system.
In the context of higher education, the Minister said that an inter-disciplinary approach has been introduced in Jammu and Kashmir which will help students to compete with their counterparts from other parts of the country.
Dr Sarkar also laid the foundation stone of a 100 bedded Gujjar and Bakarwal Hostel at Kulgam and thereafter participated in the inauguration of 75 Digital Banking Units in the country. The programme was inaugurated remotely by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.