Jammu,March 27 (Scoop News) – Describing mother tongue as the most effective way of imparting knowledge to the children at elementary level the Minister for Tourism and Culture Nawang Rigzin Jora said that children ought to be made aware about their local culture, history and traditions from the elementary level. He said that it is the quality of education that determines whether the available human resource becomes a bane or a boon to the country.
Replying to the discussion on working of Education Department, Jora said that the State Government has taken various steps to improve the education sector of the State and flagship programmes like SSA and RAMSA have been instrumental in realizing the goal of “access to all”. The dropout rate in schools has reduced. He said that Government is also concentrating to improve the system of monitoring and supervision in Government schools including training to teachers so that discipline, quality of education and results are improved.
Giving details regarding the progress under SSA, Jora said that 10,185 primary schools have been opened in the State, 6343 primary school have been upgraded to the level of middle schools and 709 new middle schools have also been opened up. He said more than 46215 RETs have also been engaged under SSA. 6651 teacher have been promoted as masters under SSA and placed as head teachers. 5921 school buildings have been completed and 6215 additional class rooms have also been completed so far in the State.
Similarly under RAMSA he said 251 middle schools have been upgraded to the level of high schools while on upgradation of 279 more schools is in the pipeline. Under the scheme 46 High and Higher Secondary schools have been provided infrastructure facilities including libraries, laboratories, toilets, drinking water, etc while 254 such school are in the pipeline. Under the Secondary sector 19 girl’s hostels in the educationally backward blocks have been approved and a proposal of 49 has been submitted to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Jora informed the house that the literacy rate in the state has improved from 55.5 % (Census 2001) to 68.74% (Census 2011) adding that Female literacy has shown a noticeable increase of 15.02% during the last ten years. He said that the ‘Out of school’ children rate has been reduced from 3.76 lakh in 2003 to 0.36 lakh in 2011. The dropout rate has been down to 1.5%, he said.
The Minister said that the department has a network of 23,454 Government schools and 4719 private schools in the State. Out of 23, 454 schools, 14,453 are primary, 6979 are middle, 1418 are high schools and 607 are higher secondary schools. The total enrollment of the students from primary to senior secondary is 23.40 lakh.
Earlier, 17 members took part in the discussion on the working of the Higher Education and Education departments and suggested various measures to improve the functioning of these departments.
Vijay Bakaya highlighted the importance of education and said that there is a dire need to impart training to teaching staff to ensure quality education. He also stressed for monitoring the quality education in various educational institutions.
Jehangir Hussain Mir appreciated the performance of the Government during last three years.
Murtaza Ahmad Khan demanded release of wages to Education Voluntaries (EVs).
Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy suggested for selection of teachers subject wise. He also suggested posting of RBA category staff in their respective RBA areas.
Naresh Kumar Gupta while appreciating the performance of the Government urged the need to improve the education management system. He demanded for upgradation of Government High School, Serri and Govt. High School Dradu.
Syed Rafiq Ahmad Shah urged for promotion of Urdu language.
Ajay Sadhotra said that education is key to empowerment of the society. He said that Sheri Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah has played vital role in promoting the education in the State.
Sadhotra asked the Government for fixing targets in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and stressed for ensuring sanitary units and water connections in all education institutions.
Nizamudin Khatana demanded to make mobile schools functional.
Jugal Kishore appreciated the performance of the government under SSA. He demanded posting of teachers in their respective districts as per the demarcation of newly districts.
Sheikh Ghulam Rasool demanded creation of more posts of teachers for Hindi/Urdu languages.
Subash Chander Gupta called for filling up of vacant posts of teachers/lectures.
Javed Ahmad Rana stressed for creation of infrastructural facilities in all educational institutions.
Nurboo Gialchan stressed for implementation of schemes on ground and their monitoring.
Dr. Bashir Ahmed Shah (Veeri) stressed for providing of quality education and adoption of mechanism to check quality control.
Aga Syed Razvi also appreciated the performance of the government.
Sardar Dharam Bir Singh Oberio demanded promotion of Punjabi language.
Master Noor Hussain suggested framing a comprehensive transfer policy for teaching staff.