Omar for strengthening of elementary education

LiveINB : Srinagar, June 21- Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has called for strengthening elementary education in the State to ensure cent percent coverage of boys and girls of 6-14 years of age group.
Speaking at a meeting held under his chairmanship here to discuss main features of School Education Act, the Chief Minister said that the focus should be on restricting drop outs from educational institutions at elementary level.
“Imparting of quality education and upgrading infrastructural facilities in the schools should be given priority”, he said stressing on rationalizing the student-teacher ratio in the educational institutions.
Omar Abdullah said that education has been flagged as one of the most important sectors in the development policy. He said educational schemes for universalization of elementary education needed to be implemented in a machinery spirit and benefits of these ensured at gross roots.
The meeting among others was attended by the Minister for School Education, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, Secretary, Education, G.A. Peer, Secretary Law, Directors of Education, Kashmir and Jammu and other senior officers.
A power point presentation was also made in the meeting by the Secretary Education in which he dwelt in detail about the salient features of School Education Act.

Kashmir University Sets Up a New Campus in Baramulla

Waheed Ur Rehman Para
Education is a priority sector for the Jammu and Kashmir Government and, it has taken various initiatives to expand and upgrade the educational infrastructure across the state.
As part of the project, Kashmir University has opened up a new campus in Baramulla District to cater to the growing number of students in the region.
The campus is located beneath scenic mountain ranges and has come as a boon for students from far-fl ung areas like Kupwara, Sopore and Uri. In the recent past, most of them had to travel hundreds of kilometers to reach the main university campus in Srinagar.
“The advantage of it (the new campus) is that there were only two engineering colleges in the region.There are many students and aspirants who want to become engineers. All of them couldn’t be accommodated in these two colleges. The outcome was that everybody started going outside the state to study,” said Jan Mohammad, a student.
The university has administrative, science and art blocks and provides several professional, technical and arts courses, including a Diploma in Tourism Management, Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in business administration, a Bachelor’s in technology and a Masters in English.
“The most important contribution of this university would be that every campus would have its own specialization. This campus has technological specialization; this university branch is a full-fl edged engineering branch,” said Farooq Ahmed, Director of Kashmir University.
“Now, we have introduced computer science engineering and later we will be introducing civil,electrical and the basic need base of the state. Further,job-oriented courses would also be introduced,” he added.

Dr. Shah Faesal The first Kashmiri to top UPSC

Twenty-six-year-old Dr. Shah Faesal comes from a remote village in Kupwara District and studied in a government school.
In 2002, militants gunned down his father Ghulam Rasool Shah, a schoolteacher. The family, gripped by a sense of insecurity, fled toSrinagar the next day.
Faesal, however, turned that tragedy into his strength and passed the MBBS from the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Medical College. He has now become the fi rst Kashmiri to top the annual Union Public Service Commission examinations.
His mother Mubeena Begum, said, “Faesal has made every Kashmiri proud with his hard work and dedication.”
Faesal said he was confi dent of qualifying, but never imagined he would be right at the top. He said that his mission now is to serve the people in Kashmir to reduce the communication gap between the people and the administration, and to bring a change, especially for women and the youth.
“There are many myths circulating in Kashmir. One of the myths is that we are getting discriminated; one of the myths is that we don’t have exposure; we don’t have talent; I think we will have to deal with the inferiority complex that is inside us,” said Shah Faesal.
“I have proven that a Kashmiri can do it in the fi rst attempt and do it without coaching, and, he can do it from Srinagar only,” he added.
People in the state have lauded his success, and, said it was a source of pride for Kashmir.