Encouraging active participation of people; Central focus of India’s G20 Presidency: Alok Kumar

J&K Samagra Shiksha organises Janbhagidari activities across all districts of UT

SRINAGAR, JUNE 10: In run up to forthcoming G20 4th Education Working Group (EdWG) meeting at Pune, the Directorate of Samagra Shiksha, J&K, under the aegis of School Education Department, organised a series of events across all districts of the Union Territory witnessing overwhelming public participation.

One of such mega events was held at Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Kothi Bagh, Srinagar, as a sequel towards making ‘NIPUN’ Bharat Mission a grand success.

Principal Secretary Education, Alok Kumar, was the chief guest on the occasion.

The programme was organised amid forthcoming G20 4th Educational Working Group (EdWG) meet scheduled to be held at Pune, from 19th to 21st of June, 2023, in which J&K School Education Department is also taking part.

The event was attended by Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, J&K, Engineer Deep Raj, Director School Education, Kashmir, Tasaaduq Hussain and other senior officers and officials of the department.

During the event, a series of activities were organized including an exhibition depicting teaching and learning material under NIPUN Bharat, besides an orientation session on foundational literacy and numeracy and pledge taking ceremony.

Project Director Samagra Shiksha, in his address, shared the activities being organized under the Janbhagidari programme across all districts of the UT amid G20 4th EdWG meet. He said that School Education Department is making all efforts for effective implementation of NIPUN Bharat Mission. Under the Mission, many activities are being organized to sensitize the general public, PRIs, Local leaders and NGOs across the UT. He extended accolades to all stakeholders including PRI members, teachers, parents and students for their participation and making the Janbhagidari events a grand success in J&K. He said that Chief Education Officers, Principal DIETs and officials of SCERT-JK are the key stakeholders for successful implementation and monitoring of ongoing activities, where people are actually involved and being sensitized.

Alok Kumar, while addressing on the occasion, said that as per NEP 2020, “the highest priority of the education system will be to achieve universal foundational literacy and numeracy in primary schools by 2025. The rest of NEP-2020,will become relevant for our students only if this most basic learning requirement (i.e., reading, writing and arithmetic at the foundational level) is achieved first. He said that, for attaining universal foundational literacy and numeracy in all primary schools, identifying stage wise targets and goals has to be achieved by 2025. Besides, all stakeholders of the Education Department and members of Panchayati Raj Institutions, civil society, students, parents, Non-Governmental Organizations have to play their role in close tracking and monitoring of the same, he added.” He said that, Janbhagidari events throughout the UT are being organised to create awareness and generate a sense of pride among all stakeholders as a whole, about G-20, National Education Policy and FLN.

He also reiterated that Samagra Shiksha focuses more on holistic approach towards providing quality education integrated with Art and Culture, Sports and other domains in alignment with New Education Policy-2020. He further, informed that, it is our collective responsibility to ensure that the NEP-2020 is implemented in letter and spirit. The historical reform through NEP has the potential to transform the country into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, he said.

He said that, India has achieved great success in all the fields especially in education, science, technology, art, culture and sports with implementation of various schemes. Even the poorest of the poor has developed this self-confidence that he can not only dream but can also make it come true, he asserted. He also said that, Nation is moving towards new directions, under the leadership of Prime Minister, Narender Modi, who is hosting the presidency of forthcoming G-20 Summit, which is matter of pride for every citizen of India and J&K as well.

Speaking on the occasion, Director School Education Kashmir, Dr. Tassaduq Hussain Mir, highlighted the importance of Janbhagidari in bringing awareness about NIPUN Bharat Mission as primary initiative to have a strong foundation for life-long learning of a child. He informed that, a lot of activities including workshops, exhibitions, seminars and conferences are being held involving people from all strata of life.

The event concluded with flagging off a rally by Principal Secretary with the motive to disseminate the message among all the stakeholders regarding NIPUN Bharat Mission (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy). More than 500 Teachers and students along with the PRIs, participated in the rally.