SED makes school inspections mandatory for officers

Srinagar, Feb 18: The Jammu and Kashmir School Education Department (SED) has made regular school inspections mandatory for the officers of the department.

The initiative has been taken to streamline and improve the standards of teaching, academics and administrative functioning of the institutions as well as offices.

"It has been felt that there is a need to reinvigorate administrative inspections as well as field visits of offices and institutions by the officers of the department on a regular basis with strict monitorable outcomes," reads an order issued on February 15 by the Administrative Secretary SED Piyush Singla.

The move comes around two years after the SED constituted "special teams" to monitor teaching-learning methodologies in government schools besides assessing the infrastructure available for the school children in the government-run institutions.

The teams were entrusted to assess the availability of drinking water and electricity in the schools besides inspecting the availability of sports infrastructure and library facilities in the schools.

The initiative was taken in March 2022 by the department but was however shelved for unknown reasons.

As per the fresh order issued by the SED, the administrative inspection of schools is aimed at monitoring and improving the standards of teaching besides administrative functioning of the schools.

"It is enjoined upon the officers of the SED to conduct field visits of the schools and submit reports by or before the 5th of every month to the department," the order reads.

As per the order, the Special or the Additional Secretaries of SED, Director Finance, Director (Planning) besides the Deputy Secretaries and Under Secretaries shall conduct visits in different educational zones of any district twice a week and submit a report to the Administrative Secretary of the Department.

"The Director School Education Jammu and Kashmir shall conduct visits in different educational zones of different districts twice a week and submit a report to the Administrative Department," the order reads.

It further states that the Directors shall submit a consolidated report along with their recommendations to the administrative department.

"All Chief Education Officers, Deputy Chief Education Officers and Zonal Education Officers besides Cluster heads and Head of Institutions shall conduct visits to different schools in far flung areas of the district and submit a report to the respective Directors, " the order reads.

The order further states that in case of any departmental meeting during the scheduled visit, the tour shall not be cancelled unless conveyed by the Administrative Secretary.

"Efforts can be made to attend the said meeting through online. The above instructions shall be complied in letter and spirit and any deviation on this account shall be taken seriously," the order reads.

The order states that the administrative section will compile all reports and recommendations of the month and submit them for the perusal of the Administrative Secretary before every 7th of next month.

The initiative of departmental inspections of schools has been taken days after this newspaper reported about the dearth of facilities like school library rooms, playgrounds and the ramps for the children with special needs in the government schools.