Commissioner Secretary School Education Department, Shaleen Kabra, today chaired a meeting to review the arrangements put in place for the conduct of board examinations and implementation of various flagship programmes under Education Sector.Director School Education, Chairman BOSE, Additional Secretary School Education, Joint Directors and other senior officers from Directorate of School Education attended the meeting, while as Chief Education Officers of the valley districts participated in the meeting through video conferencing.The Director School Education briefed the Commissioner Secretary that for board examinations which are commencing from November 14, 550 exam centres have been established for 55000 candidates for class 10th examination while as 484 exam centres have been set up for about 48000 candidates for class 12th examination across the Kashmir Division.Regarding the examination arrangements, he said that special control rooms have been established across the valley at CEOs and ZEOs level, while a control room has also been established at directorate office for better coordination. He informed that Magistrates for each exam centre have already been notified, besides relocation of the centres is being done wherever required. He added that night vigil is being maintained at all exam centres and examination material has been dispatched to respective police stations for their further distribution.
On the occasion, the Commissioner Secretary directed CEOs to give wide publicity regarding relocation of exam centres so that candidates do not face any inconvenience.For fresh admissions, Mr. Kabra said that no-detention policy for school children would be made effective from 2017, meanwhile previous practice will continue. During the meeting, he was informed that about 5000 students have been affected by damage to school buildings in various fire incidents. He directed to accommodate affected students by providing them admissions in nearby schools and asked the CEOs to rearrange staff among these schools.While reviewing the progress in implementing various flagship programmes, the Commissioner Secretary was informed that various schools have been identified for establishing herbal gardens and a few have already been established. The Secretary called for early completion of preparatory and construction work for such gardens. On introduction of smart classrooms, he directed the CEOs for installation of logistics in their respective districts within 20 days so that these classrooms are made properly functional. He said that purpose of such classrooms is not only to provide digital literacy and computer training to students and teachers but to act as hub of community knowledge centres as well.