‘500 Atal Tinkering, 1122 vocational labs, 1352 smart classes to come up in J&K this year’
Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Sunday said that as part of the National Education Policy (NEP), a new enrolment drive to bring the children to schools under the ‘Aao School Chalein Campaign’ witnessed a 14.5 percent increase in the enrolment in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here quoted the LG as saying that 1,65,000 students had been enrolled in various schools of J&K.
“Under the unique initiative of the School Education Department, TALAASH Survey was launched. Through this initiative, 20 lakh children have been surveyed of which 93,508 students have been found out of school or never enrolled. Mainstreaming of out-of-school children has been initiated in the appropriate age schools. We are committed to providing education with a value system to all meritorious students,” he said.
The LG said that the focus was also laid on vulnerable segments for enrolment of students in pre-primary classes and primary classes which includes nomadic children, children of far-flung areas, girls, and Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories.
He said at least 100 best teachers and lecturers of J&K were being sent outside for training this year and that they would act as master trainers, mentor teachers, and work to improve the cognitive skills of the mapped children.
“For capacity building of the teachers, a student mentorship programme, Student and Teacher Engagement for Educational Reinforcement (STEER) has been launched in J&K which focuses on student performance in academics and to strengthen the learning outcome. As a unique initiative, Matri Bhojan Yojana has been implemented in J&K under which mothers are visiting schools to ensure the quality of the cooked meals. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with Akshaya Patra for the community kitchen in Jammu and Samba and it will be replicated in other districts too,” the LG said.
He said 70,000 students enrolled in 714 government schools were being imparted vocational education in 14 different trades while 803 vocational labs had been established and 1122 more labs and 1352 smart classrooms were being established during the current financial year.
The LG said that a revolutionary step had been taken to establish 127 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and 1420 Computer Aided Learning (CAL) centres while 500 additional ATLs would be established this year to translate commitment into action.
“An MoU has been signed with HCL TechBee for providing skill training to the class 12th pass out students in J&K. Our effort is to instill creativity, inquisitiveness, scientific temper, entrepreneurial and moral leadership among the students as per the recommendation of NEP,” he said.
The LG said that quality education was being ensured in every school through various reforms and the dream of universal education was being realised through community participation.
“It is not about only going to any school but a good school. To achieve this goal, quality education is being ensured across the schools in J&K and it is one of the paramount goals for us. The government is also determined for effective implementation of other interventions,” he said. “Emphasis is given on building cognitive abilities of the students, better learning transactions using toy-based learning and experiential and competency-based learning.”
The LG said that under the ‘Each One Teach One’ campaign, primary and upper primary students were teaching their neo-literate family members so that they could become literates and a module and material had already been developed and distributed by Samagra Shiksha among the beneficiaries.
