Principal Secretary, School Education Department, Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon today said government is committed to facilitate private investors to invest in education sector through Education Investment Policy-2020 (EIP-2020).He was speaking at a meeting convened to discuss implementation of EIP-2020 with several private stakeholders.The meeting was attended by Commissioner Secretary Higher Education, Talat Parvez Rohella; Directors of School Education Jammu/Kashmir and Chairperson J&K Board of School Education, Veena Pandita via video conferencing.Mission Director, Skill Development Department, besides several private stakeholders also attended the meeting.Threadbare discussions were held while seeking inputs from the investors to establish private colleges and universities and to explore opportunities to attract private investors for the same.The meeting also discussed various suggestions from the prospective investors and it was informed that in this regard an empowered ‘Single Window Clearance Body’ would be made operational soon for granting time bound approvals and clearances for setting up of new private schools/ residential schools / colleges/technical education institutes/ universities etc.Principal Secretary said that universities have a great role to play in skill development and the need of the hour is to work in tandem with the industrial demand.
While welcoming investment in education sector, Mr. Samoon said that the government is committed and wants to create conducive atmosphere for creation of state-of-art educational ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir by fostering the spirit of creativity and nurturing a culture of scientific temper and critical thinking.Maintaining that there is scope for the establishment of private universities in J&K, Dr Samoon said there is a need to attract the investors for the establishment of these private universities.On the occasion, the private investors also gave their inputs and suggested several measures to raise the educational standards in J&K while maintaining that they are ready to invest in the education sector through the EIP-2020.During the meeting, the investors informed that they are planning to target local students who seek admissions in colleges and universities outside J&K besides attracting students from across India and abroad as well.Meanwhile, Dr Samoon chaired another meeting to review the functioning of drinking water supply and other utilities in the government schools across J&K.
Commissioner Secretary PHE, Ajeet Kumar Sahu; Directors of School Education Kashmir/Jammu Mohammad Younis Malik, Anuradha Gupta and Chief Engineer Jal Shakti Jammu, Sanjeev Chadha participated in the meeting via video conferencing.The meeting was also attended by the officers of Jal Shakti Department Kashmir.Principal Secretary stressed upon the officials to provide better hygienic facilities in all the government schools so that the student ratio can be increased.Dr Samoon further impressed upon the officials to provide drinking water and toilet facilities in dry zone areas of Jammu region which may face scarcity of water during the peak summer season. He also asked the officers to expedite all the PHE related works in the schools and fix the targets of completion of work in due time.Director School Education Jammu informed the meeting that all the schools which have been provided drinking water facilities have been linked with U-Dise code for verification purpose.Director School Education Kashmir informed the meeting that in Kashmir valley the drinking water facilities and other utility services have been completed in 1286 schools till date.