Describing children as any nation’s greatest asset, Advisor to the Chief Minister, Prof. Amitabh Matoo, today flagged improving the quality of education in State-run Schools as the most important intervention to be made in the education system of the state.He said no education system can thrive anywhere in the world unless we take the ownership of State-run institutions. “It is the Government which has to create the edifice of a competitive education system and unless the State-run schools are on board, there is very little probability to achieve the desired results,” he added.Prof. Mattoo was speaking while chairing the maiden meeting of the Committee recently constituted by the Government to suggest measures to improve results and achievements of the Government schools and overall literacy rate in the State.Secretary School Education, Mr. Farooq Ahmad Shah, Director, School Education, Kashmir, Dr. G. N. Itoo, Director School Education, Jammu. S. Ravinder Singh, Special Secretary Higher Education, Mr. Riyaz Ahmad and Joint Director Planning, School Education Department, Mr. Javed Iqbal Mattoo attended the meeting.
Laying stress upon the collection and collating of data related to the performance of Government Schools in the State to draw comparison with the private Schools, the Advisor to the Chief Minister said such data will enable the Committee to identify gaps and assess the results of Board examinations conducted in respect of 10th and 12th standards as well as SIEs (State Institutes of Education) for Class 8th (T1 & T2 in respect of Government Schools) and T2 in respect of private schools. “The data must reflect the current status of Board results at provincial and district levels as well as comparative status of results achieved by State-run and private educational institutions in the State,” he said, while passing directions to incorporate Secretary JK BOSE as a member of the Designated Committee.Prof. Mattoo said the Committee shall meet next week again to hold preliminary discussions to suggest recommendations for improving the results of Government Schools. “We need to provide a level-playing field to our students in Government schools and also incentivize those teachers who have achieved exceptional results,” he added.In the recently-announced Board results of Class 12th, in Kashmir Division, the students of Government Schools have performed admirably while garnering 7000 out of 9000 distinctions. Besides, they also captured 35 of the top 10 positions in various streams including first positions in Arts, Home Science and Commerce.Secretary School Education briefed Prof. Mattoo about the steps taken by the Department to improve the quality of education in Government Schools. He said remedial/ extra classes for under-performing students, CM’s Super 50 coaching and coaching for various competitive examinations including civil services are being presently conducted to prepare our human resource for cut-throat competition at cutting edge level.The Committee headed by the Advisor to the Chief Minister has to submit its report/recommendations to the Government within two months.