SRINAGAR: Union Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL), Sanjay Kumar, today conducted extensive field visits to various schools in Srinagar and Budgam districts.
Secretary, School Education Department J&K, Ram Niwas Sharma; Director General, School Education, Kashmir, Dr. G. N. Itoo; and other senior officers of the School Education Department also accompanied the Union Secretary during the visit.
During the visit, the Union Secretary inspected Higher Secondary School Rajbagh, SP Higher Secondary School MA Road Srinagar, Government Boys Middle School Yarikalan Chadoora, KGBV Lanilab, PM Shri Higher Secondary School Draggar Khansahab, and DIET Beerwah in Budgam district.
During his extensive tour, Sanjay Kumar inspected classrooms, science laboratories, including Atal Tinkering Labs, and took on-the-spot assessment of ongoing works and available infrastructure and facilities for students.
The Secretary and his team of officers interacted with students, appreciated their science and innovation models, inaugurated sports events, participated in plantation drives, and witnessed cultural performances presented by students.
The students and faculty on the occasion put forth demands for digital libraries, upgraded laboratories, and improved infrastructure.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Secretary emphasized that no child should be left out of schools and called for achieving 100 percent school attendance.
Union Secretary urged that no child should drop out of school before completing higher secondary education.
“After the 12th grade, students are mature enough to decide whether they want to pursue medicine, engineering, government service, research, or any other career. Education till Class 12 is essential to help students realise their interests and potential,” he said.
The Secretary maintained that education helps students to become confident, and students here have a high level of confidence.
“This confidence comes from competence, from the ability to communicate and express oneself. It gives me hope that we are doing something right in our schools,” he said while interacting with students at PM Shri Higher Secondary School, Draggar.
Later, the Union Secretary chaired a review meeting with officers of the School Education Department from both Jammu and Kashmir divisions to review the implementation of the Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) in J&K.
He reviewed the progress made under VSK, which seeks to strengthen data-driven governance in school education by enabling real-time monitoring of key indicators such as student learning outcomes, teacher performance, school infrastructure, and digital learning initiatives.
The Secretary stressed the importance of timely data collection, effective analysis, and proper utilization to improve learning outcomes and ensure accountability at all levels of the education system.
Senior officers of Union Ministry including Anandrao V. Patil , Additional Secretary, DoSE&L; A. Srija, Economic Adviser DoSE&L; Pankaj K. P. Shreyaskar, DDG (Stats), DoSE&L; Harikumar Janakiraman, Director, DoSE&L; Sreekala P. Venugopal, Director, DoSE&L; Dinesh Prasad Saklani, Director, NCERT; Ram Singh, Deputy Director; Abdul Momin, TSG and Akhilesh Mishra, Chairman, NIOS, also accompanied the Secretary during the visit.
