Pleading for insulating education from disturbances, Minister for Education, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari today said disrupting academics for serving political interests is like pushing the society into perpetual darkness.“Education is not merely about employment, it takes an individual on the path of knowledge and emancipation and it has to be made disturbances-neutral,” the Minister said while addressing an impressive function at SKICC here this morning organized by J&K State Board of School Education (JKBOSE) to felicitate the meritorious students of Class 12th and 10th.104 meritorious students from across the State who topped the Classes 10th and 12th examination between 2011 and 2016 were presented Gold Medals and Certificates of Merit by the Minister at the annual convocation 2017 organized JKBOSE after a gap of 7 years. 24 first positions holders in Matric and 80 first position holders in 10+2 level in different streams were felicitated on the occasion. 69 gold medals were bagged by the girls.“A place like J&K which has been a source of inspiration for knowledge in the entire sub-continent has to be revived as a hub of emancipation for our future generations," the Minister said and added that the present generation of youth in Kashmir have gone through the most turbulent times in history unlike their predecessors and it is now time to secure their future through best possible education.
Commenting on the huge success of girl students, the Minister said that girls are intelligent and are catching up in every field and are proving themselves through their hard work and dedication. He said through the felicitation ceremonies, the students get encouraged. "From now onwards, we will organize the convocation annually on time," he said and added that not only the meritorious students but the institutions to which they belong would be also suitably rewarded in future.The Minister also hailed the untiring efforts of the teachers and the non-teaching staff of the Education Department in keeping the light of education beaming amid difficult circumstances in Kashmir in the past.On the occasion, Bukhari directed Secretary School Education, Farooq Ahmad Shah to start a suggestion platform through which teachers can provide their suggestions for the betterment of education sector. He said that Education Department will also look for the suggestions of the students which can be incorporated during the formation of curriculum for studies.The Minister also complemented the private sector for supplementing the Government's efforts towards betterment of education in the State.
Addressing the function, Secretary School Education, Farooq Ahmad Shah said that various initiatives have been taken of late to revive the education sector in the Valley.He said around 750 ReTs have been regularised recently while regularization orders for another 600 ReTs are being issued within a couple of days. "Besides there were some career progression issues of JKBOSE staff which have also been sorted out to some extent," he said and added that besides around 800 cases involving extension of registration and related issues of private educational institutions have also been sorted out.Speaking on the occasion, Chairperson JKBOSE, Veena Panditta said BOSE is under tremendous workload as it has to cater to a large population of students in various parts of state.“We have around 1200 to 1300 examination centers for class 10th alone,” Panditta said.She said JKBOSE is the only board which gives Xerox copy of the answer sheets to the students who apply for the same and the revision of the text books is a continuous process.MLA Batamalloo, Noor Mohammad Sheikh, MLA Anjum Fazili, MLC Mohammad Khursheed Alam, DC Srinagar, Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Director School Education, Dr G N Itoo, Director Information and Public Relation, Muneer-ul-Islam, Director Academics, BOSE, Farooq Ahmad Peer, Secretary JKAACL, Prof Aiz Hajini and other concerned officials besides students and parents in large numbers were present on the occasion.