Dharmendra Pradhan calls upon states to work together to strengthen education system

NEW DELHI: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged states and Centre to work together to strengthen the education ecosystem in India as well as to replicate and amplify best-practices followed by them. He was addressing the inaugural session of the review meeting of the Department of School Education and Literacy.

“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,” the ministry said.

Sharing his thoughts on the roadmap for the next five years for development of school education, Pradhan said that “education is a key pillar of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat and called upon States and 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.”

On teaching in Indian languages, he said the NEP 2020 highlights 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,” it said.

Also read NEET spark will lead to a bigger student movement, says NSUI president

He stressed upon the importance of building technology readiness in schools with a holistic approach and ensuring critical thinking among students and ensuing an education system which is both rooted and futuristic is our collective responsibility.

Further, he talked about the emotional connect with their school teachers and pointed out the importance of teachers’ capacity building to improve the education system.

School education department secretary Sanjay Kumar, said: “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 SHRI, PM Poshan, ULLAS, etc. with the Policy.”

The members discussed 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 and union territories.

The officials also discussed on the status of Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) and 200 TV 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.