The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir is undergoing a movement focused on educational as well as all-round development of students, union minister of state for education Subhas Sarkar said. He added that this has helped the union territory to improve its rank from 17 to eight in school education in the last five years.
Sarkar made the remark while addressing the media after concluding his three-day visit to Kashmir as part of the third phase of the Central government’s public outreach programme in the Jammu and Kashmir. He expressed satisfaction at the overall development in the education sector in J and K, according to an official statement.
“There is a movement going on in Jammu and Kashmir which focuses not only on education but all-round development of the students,” the minister said.
Sarkar added funds received by J and K for education have gone up from Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 9,600 crore in the last two years. He said that the grade 10 pass percentage in the UT has gone up by three percentage points. “An increase of 3.4% in the pass percentage is nothing less than record breaking,” he said.
Furthermore, the minister said that the enrolment rate in the UT has gone up considerably in the last two years. Referring to the National Education Policy (NEP), the union minister highlighted the speed of progress being made to develop the infrastructure. He said 70,000 new enrolments have been recorded in Kashmir at the primary level in the recent past.
Sarkar said the national curriculum framework with reference to the NEP is democratic in the country and suggestions are taken from all stakeholders including students and their parents for the improvement of the system. In the context of higher education, the minister said, an inter-disciplinary approach has been introduced in the UT which will help students to compete with their counterparts from other parts of the country.
With inputs from PTI
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