DSEK HOSTS EDUCATION SUMMIT ON NEP-2020: NEP-2020 magnificent, far-reaching document: CM Omar

Srinagar, Jul 22: Chief Minister (CM) Omar Abdullah Tuesday said that the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 was a magnificent and far-reaching document but the government had to understand to what level it had reached in its implementation.

The CM was speaking during the inaugural session of a day-long educational summit on National Education Policy (NEP) 2020: Empowering Education Leaders for Holistic Education Challenges and Way Forward.

The summit was organised by the School Education Department (SED) at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) here and hosted by Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK).

“We have to assess to what level we have been successful, and what should be done to make it better, and what others have done, which we can learn from,” CM Omar said.

He said NEP-2020 was a magnificent and far-reaching document but it had to be understood when J&K will benefit from it.

“We have to understand it properly and bring it into use after understanding it,” the CM said.

Addressing the teachers present at the venue, he asked them that those sitting in this hall would decide to a large extent what the future of J&K would be.

“You have to decide what role our future generation will play in the development of J&K. In the future, how much our children will be able to participate in the development of the rest of the country will be decided here. How much we will be able to compete will be decided here,” CM Omar said.

He said that the people talk about unemployment, but along with that, they also talk about employability.

“We teach students and give certificates and degrees. But do we really prepare them to get a job or to earn a living or not. This conference should discuss that,” the CM said.

He said there was a lot of emphasis on innovation and choice in NEP-2020 and students had the freedom to decide what they want to study.

“But do we really give that choice to the students or not? We can also discuss that here. We open degree colleges. But when Sakina Itoo and I went to the degree colleges and talked to the students there, they complained about the shortage of streams,” CM Omar said.

He said that the Centre does not get tired of reminding J&K that there are more people in government jobs.

“The size of J&K is very big. It is possible that there are around five lakh government employees. But if you look at the cutting-edge level, there is a shortage,” the CM said.

He said there was a shortage of teachers, principals, lecturers, doctors, and engineers.

“That is why we are not able to teach all the subjects in all the degree colleges. There are only a few schools in Jammu where the subject of Urdu is offered and there are only a few schools in Kashmir where Hindi is offered. There are only a few schools where Kashmiri or Dogri is offered,” CM Omar said.

He said that the local community at many places demands that Punjabi should be taught in schools but the authorities are not able to offer that.

“The education policy is fine in itself. But in its implementation, where there have been gaps, we will have to gradually fill those gaps while keeping our constraints in mind,” the CM said.

He asked the teachers that all eyes were on them considering the importance of the Education Department.

“We build hospitals and prepare doctors but hope the hospitals remain empty because there should not be any patients,” CM Omar said.

He said in case of building schools the government prepares teachers with the hope that these schools remain full.

“You see, any decision of yours becomes an issue of debate. Whether it is about summer vacation or winter vacation, should it be announced or not, it becomes a debate,” the CM said.

He said that whether online learning was right or wrong, that was also a debate.

“It is because everyone has some connection with education. Either they are in the schools themselves or have their own children or grandchildren in schools,” CM Omar said.

About the digital divide, he said it was necessary to remove it.

“But you cannot do it alone. As our financial situation improves, it will get better and we will be able to remove the digital divide,” the CM said.