Srinagar, June 24: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar Thursday said the New Education Policy-2020 is aimed at ensuring equitable and inclusive education for all, while stating that it will enable the government to revamp the entire education system across Jammu and Kashmir.
The Advisor was addressing a high-level meeting of the Task Force constituted for the smooth implementation of NEP-2020 in School Education Department (SED) at civil secretariat here.
The meeting held in-depth deliberations on all the components of the education policy like early childhood care and education: foundation of learning, foundational literacy and numeracy; curtailing dropout rates and ensuring universal access to education at all levels, curriculum and pedagogy in schools, equitable and inclusive education, and standard-setting and accreditation for school education.
During the meeting, Advisor Bhatnagar maintained that the NEP-2020 aims at the reconfiguration of primary and secondary school education in all aspects from the very foundational stage with a focus on equitable and inclusive education.
He said the policy will refurbish the education system across J&K and maximum needs of the sector will be met through it.
On achieving the objectives of the policy, Advisor Bhatnagar asked the members of the Task Force to draft an action plan for next five years with the remodelling of present set up so that the outcomes as per the NEP can be achieved.
He stressed upon them to work in coordination in order to achieve the desired goals of NEP in a time-bound manner.
The Advisor maintained that an outcome-based framework should be drafted at the earliest for proper implementation of the policy with analysis on regular basis.
Highlighting the need for training of teachers, Advisor Bhatnagar impressed upon the members that regular capacity building training programmes for teachers should be held as per the recommendations of NEP. He said teachers are the backbone for the effective implementation of this policy on the ground.
He emphasized that regular skill up-gradation, commitment, motivation and accountability of teachers should be done so that proper education is provided to the students.
The Advisor further said that the teachers should be evaluated on daily basis and their performance should be monitored regularly for achieving desired outcomes after the capacity building training programmes.
Underlining the importance of creating linkages between different departments during implementation of this policy, the Advisor asked the Task Force to create proper linkages between Anganwadi centres and primary schools in order to implement the several objectives of the policy in cohesion with social welfare department.
He impressed upon them that constant communication, coordination and synergy within the departments and among the sub-groups is paramount for effective implementation of the policy on ground.
Regarding the accreditation of schools, he asked the members that a methodology with set of parameters should be drafted so that the schools can be accredited on performance basis. He asked them for regular evaluation of schools for effective outcomes.
Bhatnagar asked all the participants that regular review meetings should be held to assess the progress in the implementation of NEP which is crucial for successful implementation of this policy. He also asked the participants to utilise the existing resources and be practical in the implementation of the policy on the ground.
While reviewing the existing infrastructure and facilities in schools, he directed the officers of SED to improve the facilities in all primary schools and make them at par with private institutions both in terms of imparting quality education and basic amenities. He asked them to GeoTag all schools and prepare digital inventory for same so that renovation and maintenance of these schools can be done on real-time basis.
On the occasion, Secretary SED informed the Advisor about the steps taken till now for the implementation of the policy.
He further informed the Advisor about action plan framed with timelines for smooth implementation of some of the key components of the NEP.
The meeting was attended by Secretary SED, B.K Singh; Vice Chairperson JKBOSE, Veena Pandita; Directors of School Education Jammu/Kashmir, Director Skill Development, Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, representatives of NCERT, members of the Task Force and other concerned officials of the SED in person and through video conferencing.
Courtesy – Rising Kashmir
