Jammu and Kashmir government has taken lot of measures to give a digital push for the school education system starting from smart classrooms to mobile apps. Over 34,000 teachers of 12,000 government schools are currently being trained for e-learning initiatives. Training centres are being established at 220 smart classrooms across 22 districts of the state.
Saugat Biswas, State Project Director of Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyaan (RMSA) and SSA said that under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) they are training 34,000 teachers in e-learning and thereby ushering in a revolution in usage of information technology and the Internet for educating children. The master trainers are currently being prepared through a carefully crafted training module which has been developed under SSA.
Biswas said that teachers are being sensitised to various open source e-leaning platforms and mobile apps and computer-based tools. He added that the state government has already installed smart classrooms in 440 schools in the state. This year the smart classrooms will be installed in 627 schools across the state. Of these 440 smart classrooms will be in primary schools and 427 in secondary and higher secondary schools. There are lot of facilities available in these smart classrooms. For instance teachers can integrate graphics with their write ups.
Official figures reveal that 16.11 lakh students were enrolled in primary and upper primary classes in government and private schools of the state for the 2015-16 academic year. Of this, 9.15 lakh students were enrolled in primary and upper classes in Kashmir division and 6.96 lakh students in Jammu division.
Education in the strife-torn Kashmir valley suffered a crushing blow due to five months of unrest in 2016. The academic schedules of over 14 lakh school going children and nearly a lakh college and university students were severely disrupted during this time. Nearly 32 school buildings were torched and among the schools torched, 14 were fully damaged and 18 partially destroyed.
Naeem Akhtar, J&K Minister for Education said that information technology and the Internet can be used for making teaching and learning interesting and effective for the students. Trainers should ensure optimal utilization of the smart classrooms established in many schools of the state and also the use the Knowledge Network platform created by the education department.
Jammu and Kashmir government is focusing on both online and offline methods of teaching so that the student community particularly in far-flung areas with scarce facilities could be benefited. Biswas stated that they are trying to provide Internet facilities to as many as schools in the state as possible. They are giving offline materials to the teachers for developing on it. Govt's endeavour is to make classes interesting in limited resources.
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