Advisor to Governor, Khurshid Ahmed Ganai today chaired a meeting of officers from Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) to review the functioning of the department.Director School Education Kashmir Dr G N Itoo, Joint Directors of School Education, SIE Principal Kashmir, DIET Principals, Joint Secretary BOSE, CEOs of various districts were present in the meeting.On the occasion, the Director School Education gave a detailed presentation about the functioning of DSEK and highlighted the working achievements, new initiatives and the ongoing programmes of the department.The Advisor was informed that the School Education Kashmir Division runs 11720 educational institutes, which include 6104 primary schools, 4278 Upper Primary schools, 822 High schools, 366 Higher Secondary Schools, 12 DIETs, one SIE, 64 KGBVs and 73 Mobile Schools.Among the major initiatives, the meeting was informed that the department has established 54 Kindergartens in all the districts.It was informed that the initiative which has been taken to conserve and cultivate endemic species of medicinal plants and give the students an idea to know about these local medicinal plants. Herbal gardens have been established in 88 schools and 12 DIETs under assistance from National Medicinal Plants Board, New Delhi. 644 Herbal gardens are being developed under financial assistance from Samagra Shiksha, the meeting was informed.Giving the break-up of total number of students enrolled in overall schools of the State, the Advisor was informed that total 918760 students were enrolled in Government schools while 589734 were enrolled in private schools.The details of success for enrolment drives and student exchange programmes were also shared with the Advisor. It was informed that 80,000 new enrolments were done in 2018-2019 which has been a great achievement.The future plan for establishment of Science City in Kashmir was also discussed during the meeting.Speaking on the occasion, Advisor Ganai said that various initiatives are being taken for the betterment of the education scenario in Kashmir. He assured that the Government will ensure that basic facilities including toilet and electricity are provided at every school by March 2019.The Advisor also stressed on the non-financial interventions in the education department for the betterment of education system. He said that there should be Prescriptive Mandate for every official of the department and there should be proper monitoring process in place for the better functioning of the department.
On the occasion, the Advisor suggested Directorate of School Education Kashmir to look into the possibility of starting a messaging service through which an SMS can be sent to the parents of the students after every three months, so that they can be made aware about the performance of their wards. “Through this SMS service we can aware the parents about the achievements of their wards. The SMS idea can prove to be to be of great benefit as those parents who do not attend the parent teacher meeting will also come to know about their wards performance,” explained the Advisor.The Advisor also appealed the parents and their children to give preference to the education for their better future and betterment of society.The Advisor said that we should train our students in such a way that they can become job creators rather than job seekers. “After finishing the studies, the students should go for entrepreneurship where they can utilize their talent to the fullest,” he advised.On the occasion, he also launched phase-II of Teachers Data Management Website “Employment Management Information System”.Later the adviser visited DIET Bemina and interacted with the students who arrived in Srinagar from the Students Exchange Program today after 6 days from Bangalore. Student exchange program is an initiative by DSEK and Samagra Shiksha.On the occasion students share their experiences with regards to their visit to Bangalore. The students praised their teachers and the management for conducting the program.Speaking on the occasion Advisor said that this program is not only the tour but it's an exchange of Ideas, learning new things and understanding different perspectives.While discussing about the exposure visit of the students, the Advisor asked Director Education to send the teachers to exposure visits too, saying it will help in the requisite development of teachers.He asked the students to write about their visit in the form of travelogue and also ask them to share their experiences with their family members. He said that the students can contribute their travelogue to the school magazines.