“The inculcation of the humanitarian values, gender sensitivity and dignity of labour is also a significant aim of the education besides subject knowledge and skill development.”Expressing these views on the concluding day of the Northern Region Workshop On Innovative and Best Practices In School Education organized by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in collaboration with the Department of School Education, Punjab, the Union Minister for Human Resource Development Mr. Prakash Javadekar underlined the need for a herculean effort to carry out a revamp of the education system and ensuring that every child is imparted quality education. He also batted for improvement in the infrastructure of the Government schools. He cited Navodaya Vidyalayas and Kendriya Vidyalayas as good examples in quality education which are worth emulating.Touching another important aspect, the Union Minister said that in order to clamp down on the shops being run in the name of B.Ed. colleges, the Union Government has sought affidavits from the B.Ed. colleges with complete information about their courses, structure in the colleges and criteria for admissions. He further divulged that around 7000 colleges have sent these affidavits with many more in the pipeline.
Coming to another issue of importance, Mr. Javadekar said that the states have been given the authority to decide about detaining or not the students failing in 5th and 8th standard board exams conducted in March and June.The Union Minister also highlighted the need to impart education in native languages besides English, accountability of teachers, students as well as parents in shaping the future of the students.On the occasion, the Education Minister, Punjab, Mrs. Aruna Chaudhary profusely thanked the Union Minister for the grand success of the workshop and said that the mutual exchange of ideas during the workshop amongst the participating states would go a long way in novel methodologies being adopted in education sector. She also said that this was 5th workshop with earlier ones held earlier at Guwahati, Raipur, Pune and Bengaluru.Among others present on the occasion included Additional Chief Secretary (School Education) Punjab Mr. G. Vajralingam, Director General School Education Punjab Mr. Pradeep Sabharwal, , Secretary Department of School Education & Literacy (Ministry of Human Resource Development) Mr. Anil Swarup and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development Mr. Ajay Tirkey, Director (RMSA) Mrs. Nigar Fatima and Additional State Project Director, Punjab Dr. Ginni Duggal.