Any society’s growth, progress and prosperity depends on how educated its members are. For any society to progress on all fronts, proper education to its children is the key. It is the education that helps a child to become a responsible, creative, innovative and productive citizen who can lead her/his society and nation to a better future. The schools are a perfect medium to ignite the engine of development and the economic growth that is why in developed countries, the government’s focus is more on this sector. In Jammu and Kashmir too, the UT administration has been taking the sector seriously and is trying to ensure that all the schools are maintaining academic standards, empowering young students to develop experimental skills, exposing them to exciting innovations. Gone are the days when focus of education was about reading, writing and arithmetic. With modern times have emerged modern educational policies and methods. The education is for overall development of a child besides skill development so that after schooling they don’t face difficulties in adjusting in the society and contributing to it. National Education Policy (NEP) has already been set in motion and its implementation in letter and spirit is going to revolutionise the education sector all over, J&K being no exception. The UT administration too has been paying considerable attention to this sector and has been investing in infrastructure development of educational institutions to ensure that the children get better education in a comfortable atmosphere. The launching of TALAASH App for mainstreaming out-of-school children is a revolutionary step that would help get more and more children admitted in schools and also minimize the drop-out rate.
The School Education Department has played a great role in successfully bringing a large number of out-of-school students, students from underprivileged sections to schools through initiatives like ‘Aao School Chalen’, ‘Dastak’ and ‘Talaash’. As the process of identifying out of school children is nearing completion, one would expect that all such children are admitted in the schools and equipped with better education. Secondly, all the existing schools need to have sufficient staff as suggested in NEP-2020 besides the infrastructure. NEP-2020 has laid down certain innovative procedures and if the same are utilized properly, our younger generation will undoubtedly come out of schools well educated and skilled as well. The success of any policy depends on the efforts of those who have to execute the same on the ground and in this case, it is the teacher who has to play a pivotal role. It is the teacher who has to ensure the overall development of the students. Teachers need to rededicate themselves to the profession which is noblest of the all. It is the teacher who has the potential to make or break the future of her/his students. The concerned department should ensure that the teachers get regular training and are equipped with all types of modern technologies.
Besides, the parents too need to focus on the education of their children. They need to have better communication with their wards to understand what the are interested in and to help them their goals. Unfortunately some private schools have commercialised the education and people, in a blind race, are doing everything to get their wards admitted in these schools. The government, taking a cue from Delhi government, should make government schools so attractive and result oriented that people start reposing their trust in these schools.
