By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JULY 09, 2024: UNION Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, today addressed the inaugural session of review meeting of Department of School Education and Literacy with States and Union Territories. Minister of State for Education, Jayant Chaudhary also addressed the gathering. Secretary, DoSE&L, Sanjay Kumar; Additional Secretaries, Vipin Kumar and Anandrao V. Patil; other officials of the Ministry, Principal Secretary/Secretary and SPD/Directors of several States/UTs, heads and representatives of the NCERT, SCERTs, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya, CBSE, etc. were also present at the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan shared his thoughts on the roadmap for the next five years for the holistic development of school education across India. He said that education is a key pillar of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Viksit Bharat and called upon States & UTs to work together to achieve this goal. In almost four years of National Education Policy, the education ecosystem in the country has made tremendous progress and implementation of NEP is key to transforming Bharat into a knowledge superpower and enabling equitable and inclusive access to quality education, he added.

Speaking about education in Indian languages, he said that the National Education Policy 2020 stresses upon the importance of education in mother tongue and all Indian languages. He called upon carrying forward the basic spirit of NEP i.e. ensuring Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability in education.

He said that India is a young country and our challenge is to make global citizens for the 21st century world which is rapidly changing and being driven by technology. Ensuring an education system which is both rooted and futuristic  is our collective responsibility, he further added. He also stressed upon the importance of building technology readiness in schools with a holistic approach and ensuring critical thinking among students.

He urged that both States and Centre have to work as a team to strengthen the education ecosystem as well as to replicate and amplify best-practices from across all States/UTs. He called upon all stakeholders in States/UTs to work cohesively for strengthening capacities, building a collaborative education system and leveraging education as the key pillar of Viksit Bharat.

He also spoke about the emotional connect one shares with their school teachers and the importance of teachers' capacity building in making our educational ecosystem more vibrant. Speaking about competency-based education, he said that we must also augment our skilling capacities to increase employability.

Speaking at the event Jayant Chaudhary said that NEP 2020 is the most ambitious and progressive policy document. He also highlighted how improving GER and taking it to 100% is extremely important and students from the economically and socially backward, tribal communities must be included in the formal educational system. He also spoke about other ambitious programmes of the Ministry such as PM and invited states to be a part of the programme.

Sanjay Kumar, in his address, mentioned that the main aim of the review meeting will be reviewing NEP 2020 and its implementation in the states and alignment of the flagship schemes of the Ministry such as the Samagra Siksha, PM , PM Poshan, ULLAS, etc. with the Policy, he added. He also said that the meeting will also help in developing the roadmap for the coming five years.

During the meeting, discussion will be held on the five-year action plan; 100 days action plan; on status of the progress of infrastructure and civil works, ICT and Smart classrooms under Samagra Shiksha for all States/UTs; discussion on the status/setting up of VSK & 200 channels; finalization of UDISE+ for 2023-24; Best Practices; discussion on DIET: upgradation as Centers of Excellence; and need for Tobacco Control and implantation of TOFEI guidelines in Schools.