Srinagar: Union Secretary School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Anita Karwal Tuesday held Project Approval Board meeting of the Samagra Shiksha with the officers of Jammu and Kashmir, through video conferencing.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, School Education Dr Asgar Samoon; Director School Education Kashmir, Mohammad Yunis Malik; Director School Education, Jammu, Anuradha Gupta; Project Director Samagra Shiksha, Dr Arun Manhas and other concerned officers.
Speaking on the occasion, Anita Karwal said Government of India is willing to provide every kind of assistance needed by the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. She asked the officials to send the Detailed Project Reports of the proposals and upload the progress made with regard to Samagra Shiksha on the Shagun portal.
Dr Asgar Samoon, while speaking on the occasion, said the government is focused on the effective implementation of Samagra Shiksha in J & K and has taken several initiatives in this direction. He said they are considering pre-schooling in government schools and providing psycho social support to students. He said they will be hiring professional counsellors for maintaining good mental health of the students.
He laid bare certain suggestions for improving the quality of education in government schools and proposed establishing SCERTs in both Jammu and Kashmir divisions. He also said community schooling is the need of the hour to compensate the losses due to corona virus.
Director Samagra Shiksha, Dr Arun Manhas presented a detailed presentation on the progress made with regard to SSA in J & K.
He informed the meeting that the UT is in the process of procurement of National Book Trust, NCERT and JKBOSE books through Divisional Level Purchase Committees constituted for the purpose. He said initiatives have been taken by the UT of JK to promote sports by way of establishing Youth clubs, which would help in utilization of school infrastructure.
It was given out in the meeting that vocational education has been introduced in 553 secondary and senior secondary schools in JK and 15 trades have been introduced in these schools.
Another separate video conference meeting was held by Joint Secretary Ramchandra Meena (Mid Day Meal) to review the status and progress of the implementation of Mid Day Meal during 2019-20 in the UT. The meeting also discussed approval of the Draft Annual Works Plan and Budget (AWP&B) 2019-20 of MDM for its submission to the MHRD for final approval by Program Approval Board – Mid Day Meal (PAB-MDM).
Dr Samoon said MDM is going on smoothly in the UT of J & K and the government has been providing dry ration to the students during the months affected by coronavirus.
During the meeting, it was informed that till June 2010 more than 5 lakh Student Health Cards have been supplied/received by the Chief Education Officers of 8 districts of J&K from the Directorate of Mission Director Mid Day Meal with the support of National Health Mission J&K.
It was also given out in the meeting that steps are afoot so that every rural school in J &K will have a kitchen garden. The meeting was informed that district level competition among cook-cum-helpers was held in Jammu division in 2019-20 and the 30 winners would be given advanced training at Food Craft Institute Dhammi.
