The Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) Ministry of Education (MoE) Government of India has set a deadline for the School Education Department (SED) for completion of all KGBV residential schools and girls hostels.
The completion of the construction work on these Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) schools and girls hostels established in educationally backward blocks is pending for almost one decade. The sluggishness of the successive regimes have put the implementation of the scheme down the drain.
A meeting in this regard was jointly held by J&K Chief Secretary and Secretary DSEL Ministry of Education (MoE) GoI to review the educational indicators of the School Education Department (SED) in J&K UT.
As per the minutes of the meeting, the secretary DSEL GoI has directed the Project Director Samagra Shiksha to complete construction work of KGBVs and Girls Hostel Buildings by December 2022.
“81 KGBV schools should be completed by March 2022 and 49 Girls hostels should be completed by December 2022,” read the minutes of the meeting. The meeting was attended by the Principal Secretary SED J&K, Additional Secretary DSEL GoI, Adviser (SDG Index) NITI Aayog, Gol, Director SCERT J&K, Director School Education Jammu and Kashmir division, Project Director Samagra Shiksha J&K, Additional Secretary SED and Joint Director Planning SED J&K.
In the meeting the secretary DSEL reprimanded the J&K UT for achieving the target under National Means cum Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS).
“JKBOSE needs to assess why J&K is not able to attain targets fixed under NMMSS wherein scholarship is available for students who clear the prescribed SAT and MAT (Mental Aptitude Tests),” read the minutes.
The secretary DSEL has informed the meeting that a 100 days reading campaign is being launched by MoE wherein weekly activities will be carried out pan India.
“JK UT needs to take full advantage of the initiative and ensure that 100% of books available in school libraries are issued to students,” it reads. The government has also expressed its concern over the “large drop” in General Enrollment Ratio (GER) at Upper Primary and Higher Secondary School (HSS).
“It is an area of concern which needs to be analyzed thoroughly and corrective measures need to be taken to improve the GER with assistance of Samagra Shiksha,” the document reads.
For this, JK SCERT has been asked to conduct an Action Research Survey within a month’s time to analyze the reasons for drop in GER. The J&K school education department has been further asked to go for PPP or CSR funding to mainstream the Out of School Children (OoSC), and improve the Performance Grading Index (PGI). “Project Director Samagra Shiksha will ensure completion of all CWSN friendly toilets and ramps by the end of this year.
The secretary DSDEL has said in the meeting that increase in the years of schooling can improve HDI ranking of J&K for which dropout rate needs to be reduced and increase in enrolment from pre-primary level itself with focus on quality education will be required as well.
“Myattenclance.gov app could be utilized for attendance of teachers and students for ensuring punctuality by registering on it,” the meeting observed.
Secretary DSEL has also said the J&K needs to avail the benefit of transport allowance available under Samagra Shiksha for students of remote areas to reach school in time on a daily basis.