Maintaining that education constitutes one of the priority sectors for the State Government, the Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh today said various initiatives have already been taken to improve the quality of education in J&K and produce better human resource.The Deputy Chief Minister was addressing a gathering after inaugurating additional classrooms and other related infrastructure at Girl School Dharmkote in tehsil Billawar of district Kathua.The Deputy Chief Minister said the education facilities are being augmented on cluster basis by involving various schools in far-flung areas of the State, so that the students do not have to come to the district headquarter for getting quality education. He said special attention would also be given to starting evening classes to increase the intake capacity of the institutions and academic performance of the students living in far-flung and remote areas of the State.Referring to various initiatives taken by the Government, the Deputy Chief Minister said the schools of the district would be provided sports infrastructure so that the talent of the students gets honed. He said Indoor Stadium would be constructed at Billawar so that the youth of the area get benefitted from it.
The Chief Education Officer, Kathua, informed the the Deputy Chief Minister that the Kathua district has been divided into 37 clusters to check punctuality, academic standards, teaching practices and the progress is being monitored on monthly basis.Dr Singh also inaugurated three additional classrooms of the Government Upper Primary School at Durang, Billawar.The Deputy Chief Minister later inaugurated paddy procurement centre at village Upper Durang, Billawar. He also directed the FCI officials present for making the payment to the farmers within 72 hours of procuring their crops.He also took a detailed review of the arrangements being made for the procurement system and directed for making it more efficient, so that the problems being faced by the farmers are redressed within the shortest possible time. He said the agriculture and related activities constitute the mainstay of the State’s economy and we should take the necessary steps to ensure that the people related with it get the requisite facilities.
While interacting with the people, the Deputy Chief Minister said that Kissan Mela would soon be organized to create necessary awareness among the farmers about the various welfare schemes being launched by the government. He said necessary instructions have already been given to the officers of the PDD department to undertake the augmentation of electric infra so that the electricity problem, if any, gets solved.Dr Singh said steps have already been initiated to bring the Billawar and its adjoining areas on the tourist map so that the tourism related activities get a fillip resulting in the uplift of socio-economic profile of the people living in the area.The Deputy Chief Minister was accompanied by Vice Chairman, Kissan Advisory Board, Mr. D. S. Chib, Ms. Mamta Singh, Director Agriculture, Jammu, Mr. S. S. Jamwal, General Manager, FCI and SDM Billawar, CEO and other senior officers of the administration.