House passes grants of Education Deptt
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Govt to notify separate ‘Education Calendar’ to cut holidays; 17 new colleges,
up-gradation of 400 schools approved
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JAMMU, JANUARY 23: Terming education as cog-in-the-wheel
of progress at all levels, Minister for Education Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari
today said despite many odds and varied challenges the government succeeded to
putting decrepit education system back on track and the recent board results in
Kashmir offer a silver lining amid the dark clouds.
Winding up the discussion on Demand for Grants of the Education and
allied Departments under his charge and responding to the points raised by the
legislators, the Minister stressed on engaging in a constructive dialogue on
improving the contours of the education sector, and emphasised that ‘it
requires all of us to rise above political affiliations and considerations.’
He welcomed the suggestions of the Legislators and assured them that the
same would be incorporated to streamline the functioning of the Department.
Admitting it was hard to bring a discernible change on the ground in the
backdrop of huge gaps and challenges posed by law and order situation, he said
to paint a rosy picture won’t be the right thing.
He however said that investment in education would mean investment in
the future of the children ‘Nation Builders ofTomorrow’.
“Considering
this fact, Government has decided on three-fold increase in the CAPEX Budget of
School Education Department for the year 2018-19, “the
Minister said.
He expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and the Finance
Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu for having considered his projections made during
series of interactions held with them.
He informed it was due to their personal efforts of the Finance Minister
that despite shortfall in the allocation of salaries of SSA Teachers by the
Central Government, the Finance Department has gone out of way in disbursing
salaries to these Teachers from the State Budget.
The Minister reminded the members of the series of marathon
constituency-wise meetings taken by him to review the education sector.
“I hope
that the members by now must have framed a blueprint of their respective
constituencies as the ownership of education in their areas has already been
vested in them during these meetings,” he asserted and said one of the
first steps in strategic partnership with the Legislators and MPs can take
towards upgrading infrastructure in education sector will be their commitment
to contribute Rs 1 crore each out of their CDF and MPLAD grants towards
education sector. He assured that the funds provided shall be spent as per the
demands of the Legislators and Parliamentarians in their respective
constituencies.
He informed the house that the State Cabinet has given nod to the
up-gradation of 400 schools from Middle to High and High to Higher Secondary
level and establishment of 17 new degree colleges in the State.
The Minister informed that to compensate the loss of time of students of
schools and colleges due to frequent disruptions, his Ministry is seriously
considering notifying a separate ‘Education Calendar’ that
minimises holidays and enables the teachers to complete their syllabi well in
time. He sought support of the people in safeguarding the education sector from
frequent disruptions and called for exempting teachers from all non-academic
duties in the larger interest of the student community.
“We cannot
afford to make our students suffer for this, teachers have to be discharged
from all non-teaching assignments, including election-related duties,” he said.
He said present Government has already demonstrated its commitment
towards working in tandem with Legislators, cutting across the political
divide, by requesting them to identify schools, in order of their preference,
in their respective constituencies which qualify for such up-gradation.
The Minister said the state cannot lose focus unless remedial measures
are taken, education can become the first casualty of any conflict situation. “It was not
easy to bring back the students from the streets to the classrooms where they
actually belong. Despite extreme provocation, I take great pride in stating
that not a single FIR was registered against the protesting students’ last year.” he said. “This House
should know that our students, especially adolescents, are passing through
difficult times and require our handholding,” he said and called for involving
them in decision-making processes.
For this, he suggested for forming ‘Student Councils’ which
shall monitor the affairs of schools and colleges. He said the government will
welcome vibrant collective participation in spirit of the democratic setup
where all people have the right to voice their concerns in a peaceful manner.
He said that the additional corpus of Rs 100 crore with contribution of
the MLAs and MPs was to make them partners in the development of education
system in the State. He called for spending the generated money on fencing and
creating other facilities for security of the students and prevent outside
interference.
“Till our
schools remain unfenced and insecure in absence of permanent watch-and-ward,
they will continue to remain extremely vulnerable to anti-social activities.
Also, in a state like J&K that has remained in a perpetual state of
turbulence, security remains a buzzword. We need watch-and-ward in every school
so that we safeguard our students and educational infrastructure” he
asserted. He suggested for creation of a simple mechanism for watch-and-ward of
Schools by way of engaging chowkidars.
Saying that the stat is still reprieving from the unrest of 2016 which
took a heavy toll of the education sector, he said a large number of School
buildings were specifically targeted by miscreants and around 32 Schools
buildings were gutted, leaving the students in a lurch.
Sharing the views of the members to revisit the present education
system, the Minister acknowledged that JK students have great potential and
said “If we are able to nurture them and link education with skill and
employability, we will achieve our goal of making our college and university
campuses sought-after centres of excellence where top-notch companies would
hunt for skilled human resource.”
He said with this view vocational Education is being imparted in 10
trades viz., IT/ ITES, Retail, Healthcare, Travel & Tourism, Agriculture,
Telecommunications, Physical Education, Beauty and wellness Media
& Entertainment and Security. It shall be my endeavour to broaden the scope
of trades after proper mapping.
He said for enhancing employability of college
pass outs, various Skill Development Courses have been introduced in the
colleges like, Dying Technology and Block Printing, Hospitality and Catering
Technology, Fruit Preservation & Mushroom Cultivation, Sericulture, Tourism
& Travel Management, Hospitality and Catering, Spoken Persian, Interior
Designing, Florist Shop Fundamental of Computers and its operating system,
E-Learning (through Smart Class/EduSat/E-Library), Information Technology etc.
Calling for being more liberal while funding educational infrastructure,
he said majority of the government Schools are in a pathetic state and lack
even basic facilities like electricity, drinking water, lavatories, ramps,
playgrounds, computer-aided labs and tools of modern learning like Smart
Classrooms.
“Unless we
address this huge infrastructural gap, any false promise of revamping the
educational sector shall remain an absurd pretence and nothing more than a
charade. After carrying out detailed assessment of existing infrastructure gap,
it has been assessed that the School Education Department requires additional
funding to the tune of Rs. 2500 crore towards renovation of existing
infrastructure facilities. Similarly in the Higher Education sector, which is a
relatively new Department, there is an urgent requirement of around Rs. 1300
crore, to bridge over infrastructure gap” the Minister asserted.
He said after intensive study and feedback, the department has been able
to draw a perspective plan for the next three years to bring out a visible
change on the ground in terms of augmenting infrastructure development in the
education sector. “To implement this perspective plan, a first tranche of Rs 400 crore in
School Education Department and Rs. 200 crore in Higher Education Department is
immediately required to set the ball rolling” he added.
He, however, said under Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), the
Central flagship scheme, the government is trying to address key areas to
make the institutes of higher learning centres of excellence.
Citing that there was an urgent need to construct around 3200 additional
classrooms in high and higher secondary Schools and 5500 classrooms in primary
and upper primary, as per present enrolment, the Minister said the department
needs more than this.
He said for expediting the development works, his ministry has passed
orders for creation of separate engineering wing in the Department. He hoped
that the government would soon provide budgetary support required towards
creation of requisite posts to make these four engineering divisions fully
functional.
He said apart from narrowing down infrastructure gaps, the quality of
education imparted to the students in Schools remains of paramount importance
adding under the flagship programmes of Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya
Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), learning outcomes are being used as tools of
assessment standards indicating the expected levels of learning that children
should achieve for that class, he added.
“These
learning outcomes are also helping our Teachers in understanding the learning
levels of children in their respective classes individually as well as
collectively” he said.
He also informed the house that the department was embarking on student
exchange programme to expose state students to their counterparts in the rest
of the country. “Even as I speak here, a contingent of 550 students and teachers are in
Delhi for an exposure visit and student exchange programme” he
informed further” he told the house.
In another leap to achieve the set goals, he informed the state
government has recently entered into a memorandum of Understanding with MHRD
extending fund and expertise support to improve quality education and create
better human resource to enable the students to perform at the cutting edge
level.
Responding to issues raised by the members regarding private educational
institutions, the Minister said undisputedly they have vast contribution in
imparting quality education in the State.
“After all,
it is our children who are enrolled in these Schools. Let us not be parochial
and see these 5300 Schools as competitors or rivals but as real partners in the
field of education.” He, however, said that there are certain issues with the functioning of
the private schools which we are looking into, especially the one related to
regulation of fee structure, purchase of textbooks and school uniforms for
which this House has expressed concern. “To address this, the School Education
Department is actively considering bringing in legislation to regulate fee
structure of all private educational institutions in the State so that we do
not see these only as profiteering tuck-shops, as the Hon’ble
Supreme Court observed” the Minister added.
Listing the measures taken to reform examination process, the Minister
said J&K State Board of School Education has to play a pivotal role.
“We have a
zero tolerance policy towards unfair means and have recently suspended several
officers and officials on invigilation duty for not performing diligently. Some
of them have also been handed life-time bans from performing such duties in
future. We have also reconstituted the Board of Governors of JK BOSE and I
exude confidence that it shall take effective steps in improving the quality of
textbooks and hold time-bound examinations in a fair and transparent manner.
He said performance of government schools in recent board exam results
in Kashmir offer a silver linings which holds hope for future adding that in
10th Class examinations most of the merit positions have been bagged by the
students of Government Schools, while in Class 12th examinations, the
Government Schools have recorded 60 per cent result and 35 students from these
institutions have figured in first 10 positions while bagging first positions in the
Arts, Home Science and Commerce streams and of 9000 distinctions, 7000
distinctions went to Government Schools. He said that the credit of success
of students also goes to the teaching staff for motivating them to return to
their classrooms.
However, he called for some corrective measures for further improvement
and noted that it is matter of concern that despite having most qualified
teachers there was a yawning gap in the overall results of Government Schools
in comparison to private schools.
Reiterating government’s commitment to address the issues of
teachers, the Minister said that they are facing the career progression and to
address this problem he has requested to Chief Minister to sanction a Special
Human Resource Management (HRM) branch in the Department to address the issue
of cadre management.
He hoped that the General Administration Department would soon sanction
HRM branch adding that simultaneously directions have been issued for holding
DPCs/ PSC meetings for effecting promotions and regularization at different
levels.
He informed that around 933 new Lecturers in various disciplines have
joined the Department and have been posted in various Schools, while 1409 new
Assistant Professors have been appointed in the Higher education Department. He
said that 469 more posts of Assistant Professors in various disciplines have
been referred to PSC for selection of suitable candidates.
He said to address staff dearth in the school education, around 2154
posts of Teachers and 1296 posts of non-teaching staff have been referred to
SSB for fast-track recruitment.
He further informed that government has identified more posts under
direct recruitment quota and after working out modalities, these would be
referred to SSB and PSC for selection of suitable candidates.
“These new
recruitments as well as promotions by way of DPCs shall go a long way in
filling up vacant posts of Teachers and Lecturers especially in remote areas of
the State’ he informed and said the Department has recently amended the
subordinate recruitment rules for selection of subject-specific Teachers,
especially recognizing the need for teachers in Mathematics, Science and Urdu
subjects.
The Minister also listed the measures to streamline the transfers and
postings of teaching staff at different levels and said attachments and
deployment of teachers for non-teaching assignments remains the Achilles Heel
and the biggest challenge confronting the Department right now. He said
there was an urgent need to create a strong deterrent to discourage premature
transfers, attachment or deployment of teaching staff, which also puts a
serious question mark over the motivation of the teaching staff.
He further informed that the education ministry was actively considering bringing in Regularized Rehbar-e-Taleem Teachers
(RRTs) under the ambit of the extant transfer policy so that they do not feel
left out.
On filling up of vacant posts of ReTs, he said that the department has
undertaken fresh exercise for rationalization in the Department and till it
completes new ReT recruitment has been kept on hold.
Earlier several members participated in the discussion on Demand for
Grants of the Education and allied Departments. They include Sat Paul Sharma,
Mian Altaf Ahmad, Javid Hassan Beigh, Asgar Ali Karbalie, Hakeem Mohammad
Yasin, Neelam Kumar Langeh, Aga Syed Rahullah Mehdi, Mohammad Khalil Bandh,
Deldan Namgyal, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, Shakti Raj Parihar, Ali Mohammad
Sagar, Abdul Rahim Rather, Aijaz Ahmad Khan, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Jeevan Lal,
Bashir Ahmad Dar, Javid Ahmad Rana, Yawar Ahamd Mir, GM Saroori, Choudhry
Sukhnandan, Syed Farooq Ahmad Andrabi, Vikar Rasool Wani, Omar Abdullah, Altaf
Ahmad Wani, Dileep Singh Parihar, Raja Manzoor Ahmad, Shamim Firdous, Mohammad Akbar
Lone, Choudhry Mohammad Akram, Abdul Majid Padder, Mubarak Gul, Usman
Majeed, Shah Mohammad Tantray, Sheikh Abdul Jabbar, Noor Mohammad Sheikh, Abdul
Majid Bhat Larmi, Davinder Maniyal, Choudhary Qamar Hussain, and Anjum Fazili.
Later, the House passed grants amounting to Rs 882755.90 lakh for
Education, Youth Services & Sports, Technical Education and allied
Departments with voice vote.
HIGHLIGHTS
· 200 Middle Schools (100 in each division) and 200 High Schools (100 in each division) being upgraded to next level
· Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMS)
established at Srinagar with off campus at Jammu
· 2 Engineering Colleges established at
Janglote (Kathua) and Safapora (Ganderbal), class work to start from April 2018
· 2 Nursing Colleges established at Jammu and
Srinagar with an annual intake capacity of 60 students each
· 2 Schools of Architecture made functional at
Jammu, Srinagar with intake capacity of 40 students each
· Hostel Building for J&K students
completed in Jamia Millia Islamia Campus at Rs 20 crore
· 3450 including 2154 teaching and 1296 non-
teaching posts referred to SSB
· Under PMSSS, 3297 students sponsored by AICTE
for degrees in Engineering/Nursing and other general/ technical courses in
2017-18 with later entry of 516 diploma holders
· 2 Cluster Universities under RUSA established
at Jammu and Srinagar at the total allocation of Rs 110 cr
· Construction of 10 college buildings
completed in the current financial year
· Vocational education being imparted in 10
modern trades viz; IT/ITES, Retail, Healthcare, Travel &
Tourism, Agriculture, Telecommunications etc, endeavor underway to broaden
scope of trades
after proper mapping
· Focus being laid on teacher training by resource
persons available in the country through well worked out modules
· 19633 in-service Untrained Graduate Teachers
being trained through IGNOU for pursuing BEd course in Open Distance Learning
(ODL) Mode; more 2543 undergraduate in-service teachers to be trained through
National Institute of Open Schooling for D. El.Ed (ODL) course
· Winter tutorial classes being offered through
1000 tutorials.
· 1263 aspirants presently benefiting from
Super-50 coaching centres to prepare the students for various State and
National level Competitive Examinations; 50 aspirants enrolled for Civil Service Examination,
· “No Detention
Policy” reviewed,
reversed for 5th Primary onwards to improve quality of
education, making teachers accountable.
· 550 Students along with the teacher of 10
Districts of Valley sent on country tour under Exchange programme
· Mid-Day-Meal Automated Reporting and
Management System (MDM-ARMS) introduced for real-time, data collected being
collected through SMS, Mobile app and web portal), For
better results, the process underway for outsourcing MDM through reputed NGO
Akshaypatra in the districts of Jammu and Samba on the pilot basis
· 859 Selection of 10+2 lectures in 16
disciplines made by School Education Department in 2017, on the recommendations
of J&KPSC
· Mechanism instituted by School Education
Department to assess quality and validity of distance mode degrees obtained by
the in-service candidate for their promotion to next higher level
· Girls hostels approved under PMDP in 07
colleges to promote girl education
· Selection process of 2261 posts of Assistant
Professors initiated, appointment of 1402 candidates made
· In a first, posts of APs earmarked in
disciplines like Public Administration, Human Genetics, Social Work,
Anthropology, Television and Filmmaking, Languages (Kashmiri, Dogri, Punjabi,
Persian, Spoken Chinese, Spoken French, Spoken German) Bio-resources etc
· Skill development courses introduced for enhancing the employability of college pass
outs like Dying
Technology and Block Printing, Hospitality and Catering Technology, Fruit
Preservation & Mushroom Cultivation, Sericulture, Tourism & Travel
Management etc
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