Jammu: The Government has decided to introduce Music and Fine arts subject at Higher Secondary level in addition to string of reforms to improve the school education at all levels, with special focus on improvement of elementary education, said Minister for Education, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari here on Tuesday.

Chairing a high-level meeting to discuss education sector related issues of Kulgam constituency with the local MLA Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, the Minister said special focus has been laid on introduction of new range of subjects to make school education more vibrant and broad-based.

Initially the subject (Music and Fine Arts) would be introduced in one Higher Secondary school of each district to assess the response, the Minister informed. 

Rolling out the reform plan, the Minister said the department has ranked improvement of elementary education as   primary reform. “The biggest challenge is to ensure quality education at the primary level which will be addressed by taking and utilizing all available means. Intensifying teacher training holds key to realize this objective for which District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) would be made hub of quality training by involving the best resource persons among the available lot” Syed Bukhari asserted.  He asked the directors of each division to start the exercise in this regard and come out with best team of resources persons in each district to achieve this goal. “The fact that strengthening primary education only can help to take the school education to new highs should be the driving force in this regard, he asked the officers.

Responding to the issues raised by the Kulgam MLA, the Minister said government has already started the process to clear the decks for promotion and fill up the vacant posts of HSS principals. He also informed that the state has taken up the issue of early construction of buildings for Kendriaya Vidyalas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in different parts of state, and the matter has also been included in the agenda for his already scheduled meeting with MHRD Ministry. He said the government is going to sought relaxation in terms of land area for campus to facilitate construction of buildings of KVs and JNVs.

He further informed that the pace of construction of pending school buildings under SSA and RMSA is being regularly reviewed and monitored at highest level to ensure timeline completion and quality of work.

The Minister also informed that the government has set in the process to verify the schools being projected for upgrading to next level to confirm whether these meet the norms and guidelines. He said once the exercise was completed the upgrading of the schools would be formally announced.

MLA, MY Tarigami also gave his valuable suggestions for raising the standard of education in the state and making it more broad-based and progressive.   He also demanded introduction of Arabic, statistics subjects in Degree College, to which Minister assured to do needful.

Secretary School Education, Farooq Ahmad Shah, Directors of School Education Kashmir and Jammu and other senior officers were present in the meeting.

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