J&K SED mulls to advertise post of Director SCERT

Srinagar, Oct 13: After a delay of four years, the J&K government has woken up to fill the vacant post of Director State Council of Education, Research and Training (SCERT) J&K which remained vacant for the last four years.

The J&K SCERT was established in 2020 as an apex Teacher Education Institution in 2020. However till date the post of the Director was never advertised by the government.

Earlier, the post was manned by former Chairperson JK Board of School Education (BOSE) Prof Veena Pandita and after her retirement the post was managed by incumbent Chairman JKBOSE Prof Parikshat Singh Manhas.

An official said the delay in appointment of a full time director SCERT has hampered the functioning of the Institution.

Besides the post of director SCERT, the post of Joint Director Central J&K is also vacant and additional charge has been given to Joint Director Elementary Education, Directorate of School Education Jammu (DSEJ).

“The charge has been given to the joint director DSEJ despite having two joint directors available in SCERT J&K. It is not humanly possible for the JD DSEJ to do justice with the post of joint director Central of SCERT,” an official said.

He further stated that the JKBOSE is already facing numerous issues and the incumbent chairman remains occupied with the in-house issues of the Board. “The JKBOSE is yet to streamline the issue of textbook distribution and how can we expect that SCERT will flourish in such circumstances when the post of director of the institute is managed by a person as his additional assignment,” the official said.

Meanwhile, as per the official documents, a high level meeting was chaired by School Education Department (SED) earlier wherein directions were issued to advertise the post of the director SCERT. “The chair directed that the Department shall put up a proposal for advertisement of the post of Director, SCERT J&K on priority,” the official document.

Further, the Principal Secretary SED emphasised that the exercise of printing of textbooks should be completed within time and before the commencement of the next academic session to ensure availability of “good quality” textbooks in schools.

“It was directed that in case JKBOSE is unable to print textbooks and provide them before the commencement of next academic session, necessary alternative measures should be made to avoid hue and cry by parents and private schools,” the official document reads.

Earlier, Greater Kashmir carried a series of stories regarding the delayed distribution of textbooks in school by JKBOSE and highlighted the crisis that erupted in schools due to the dearth of books in schools.

The department has also directed that the already framed criteria for competency-based assessment be reviewed by SCERT in consultation with both the Directors of School Education, Jammu and Kashmir.

“Feedback must be shared with this department. The whole exercise should be completed within a period of 15 days by SCERT, DSEJ and DSEK,” the official document reads.

The SED has also directed the JKBOSE to ensure authenticity of the record being digitized by the Board.

“The JKBOSE shall submit a certificate to the Administrative Department that digitised record has been made from the original record (which is preserved) and henceforth in cases involving change in D.O.B verification reports from JKBOSE shall be accompanied with both the digitised and photocopy of the original document,” the official document reads.

The SED has also directed the Samagra Shiksha and JKBOSE to jointly examine the content being taught at the foundational stage (classes Nursery to 2nd primary).

“Samagra Shiksha shall examine and review books of ECCE in convergence with JKBOSE, SCERT and in due consonance with the Department of Social Welfare,” the official document reads.