The Minister for School Education, Haj & Auqaf and Tribal Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today directed the education department to take steps for converting Hari Singh Higher Secondary School into school for specially-abled children.He directed the School education authorities to complete all the required formalities including posting of well trained staff and creation of requisite infra-structure for the children with special needs.“Skill development and honing of latent talent through training be given special attention in the school to help the children to become self-reliant,” he added.The Minister gave the directions during inspection of different schools across Jammu city.Zulfkar Ali also directed to construct Hostel for the special children on vacant land in the existing premises of the Hari Singh school.The schools visited by Minister included Hari Singh Higher Secondary School, Girls Higher Secondary School Bazar Qasaban, Boys Higher Secondary School Gandhi Nagar, Girls Higher Secondary School, Canal road and Auditorium complex at Gandhi Nagar.The Minister went around the premises of the schools and took stock of available facilities and infrastructure besides inquired about the enrollment and sanctioned staff strength.Interacting with the students, Zulfkar asked them to be forthcoming and strive for excellence in education. He asked them to work hard to achieve their goals and said that only those who work with honesty, dedication and vision for progress, leave a mark on the society.He impressed upon the school faculty to make teaching-learning process more student centric and directed for adopting activity based learning so as to ensure maximum participation of students in the process.T
he Minister also asked for starting music classes as an additional subject in the government schools and said that special focus has been laid on introduction of new range of subjects to make school education more vibrant and broad-based.The Minister directed the concerned authorities to ensure that before conducting DPC the teachers undergo refresher/orientation course to keep abreast with the latest teaching styles in the fast-changing world. He said that many new concepts/ researches have come up in the teaching field which a present-day teacher should be aware of, therefore, refresher courses become important.In order to further improve the standard of education, the Minister directed concerned authorities to develop Girls Higher Secondary School Bazar Qasaban as a Model School. He said by adopting the Model School system we will be able to produce students at par with reputed private schools adding that there is no dearth of efficient and qualified teaching staff in the government schools.The Minister instructed Director School Education to start CM’s Super 50 Coaching Programme in Boys Higher Secondary School Gandhi Nagar as the same has already been introduced in Government Sri Ranbir Higher Secondary School.
He said that under the programme, 50 students with excellent academic record in the division will be imparted coaching for engineering, medical and other professional exams.He also asked school head to start kindergarten classes to put the huge and sprawling premises to better use and enable children of vicinity to benefit from highly qualified teachers.During his visit to GHSS Canal road, the Minister said that it would be developed as an Heritage school. He directed Principal to digitized school library and other records of the school.The Minister also inspected the kitchen area of these schools where mid day meals are being prepared for the students. He directed for maintaining cleanliness in the cooking area to ensure that hygienic and healthy food is served to the children.Meanwhile Minister also visited auditorium Gandhi Nagar and directed for outsourcing for its upkeep maintenance.The Minister was accompanied by Director School Education Rakesh Srangal, Chief Education officer, Jammu J K Sudan and other senior functionaries of concerned department.