Minister for Education Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari has welcomed state’s 2nd rank in education sector in India Today’s annual ‘State of the States’ ranking.The state was judged on various parameters including average student to class room ratio, transition rate from primary to upper primary, number of girls enrolled in primary, pupil teacher ratio, dropout rate, number of schools and colleges per lakh population.The Minister welcoming the ranking given to the state said that this result has been achieved due to focused attention by the government to education sector both in qualitative and in quantitative terms.The annual exercise takes into account objective data sourced from government and other authentic sources to gauge the performance of Indian states across various parameters in key sectors.Secretary, School Education Farooq A Shah while commenting on the achievement said that this ranking marks a significant improvement for the state but a lot needs to be done still to ensure best possible education at all levels for the state youth.Listing various initiatives under implementation in the education sector, the Secretary said that concept of clusterization was introduced in under which clusters of all the schools were made in the catchment area of a Higher Secondary School and this Cluster was made as an Academic and Planning unit. This idea helped to foster healthy competition between clusters for resource mobilization and performance.
Speaking about another important initiative called ‘CM Super 50, a programme to provide free coaching and guidance for entrance exams including IIT/JEE/AIPMT/CET, the Secretary said that at least 60 students from these super-50 centres have come out with flying colours for IIT/JEE, NIT Srinagar and AMU medical Entrance Examinations.Various other steps including winter tutorials, winter camps, strengthening Pre-primary sections of the schools across the division (ECCE Programme), minimum learning levels & android application, change in examination pattern, school herbal gardens, Xuanzang international internship in education, and GO- NGO co-ordination have also contributed a lot in improving this vital sector.
He further said that various partner organizations mainly PRATHAM, PACE academy, Simple Education Foundation (SEF), JKASW, UNICEF, Chinar International, TATA ClassEdge and others are also been working with the education department to bring positive and visible changes on ground and this process has proved to be a good exercise.Meanwhile, Director School Education Kashmir Dr G N Itoo and Director School Education Jammu, Ravinder Singh have also welcomed the ranking.