The Joint Committee of Private Schools (JCPS) on Wednesday said the association was working to reduce the gaps between the government and private sector education.

Speaking at the 2nd Educational Conclave organized by JCPS at SKICC on Wednesday, Chairman JCPS Showkat Chowdhary said the private sector was working to bridge the gaps between government and private sector.

“Besides imparting quality education in the schools, we want to work jointly with government in order to bridge gaps between government and the private sector,” Chowdhary said.

Pitching for PPP model, Chowkdary said the government must encourage participation of private sector in its programmes organized to provide quality education in government schools.

“The participation of private school teachers in such programmes will bridge the gaps between the two sectors,” he said.

Stating that the motive of JCPS was to make Kashmir an education hub, Chowdhary said the valley has been already declared a tourist destination and efforts must be initiated in providing education to youth so that they won’t move abroad to pursue their careers.

“Our students go abroad to pursue their professional courses and invest whooping amount in the country. We should provide such facilities to them here in order to stop them from investing money in foreign countries,” he said.

Addressing the gathering, Secretary School education department, Farooq Ahmad Shah asked the private schools to make education a mission than a commercial activity.

“We should make education a mission beyond commercial interests. Education is the sector which plays a role in developing a society and our future,” Shah said.

He said the government has decided to encourage private educational institutions for its role in making education standards better in the society. “Private schools have come up as good contributors in educating youth and play a vital role in shaping career of thousands of youth,” Shah said.

Later, a renowned academician and working Professor at the UCL Institute of Education, University College London Prof Geeta Gandhi in her PPT highlighted role of private sector in delivering education and stressed for creating facilitative environment for them.

She also highlighted the issue of improving quality education in government schools. She also presented data revealing low reading ability among the students in government schools.

Gujrat based educationist- Ekta Sodha who has been associated with the field of low-cost private schools said there is dire need to give joint efforts in order to bridge the gap between the government and private sector.

“We need to pump more efforts to make education sector better. There should be exchange programmes for the students to make them exposed to the outer world,” Sodha said.

She however, said to improve the education standards, one needs to check the quality of the leaders representing the schools. “The quality of a school can’t exceed the quality of its leader,” she said.

The programme continued during the second session wherein private school representatives called for unity and highlighted their plight in getting their genuine issues redressed from government.

At the end a panel discussion of educationists from out J&K state was organized to discuss the work culture and action plan for private schools to streamline the academics.

Guest