Srinagar, July 19 (KNS): Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo today chaired a high-level review meeting of the School Education Department to assess the quality of teaching and the implementation of educational reforms across Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting was attended by the Secretary, School Education; Directors of School Education from Kashmir and Jammu; PD Samagra Shiksha; Secretary JKBOSE; and other senior officials.

Chief Secretary Dulloo highlighted the need for improving education standards in government schools, noting that the department has a substantial annual budget of ?11,000 crore. He emphasized that this funding must reflect in the learning outcomes.

“No amount of infrastructure or technology can replace the importance of a dedicated teacher,” Dulloo said, stressing that teacher performance is central to delivering quality education.

To ensure accountability, he directed that teachers’ salaries be linked with their attendance and lawful leave, monitored through the JK Attendance App—a facial recognition system already being used by over 1.14 lakh staff members. He also asked officials to use IT tools to track punctuality and flag any casual or unauthorized behavior.

Dulloo called for frequent surprise visits—both physical and virtual—especially in remote areas, to monitor staff presence and classroom activity. He also stressed on the optimal use of existing infrastructure like smart classrooms, ICT and CAL labs, and Atal Tinkering Labs. A dashboard will be developed for daily monitoring of IT infrastructure usage in all schools.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel

On vocational education, the Chief Secretary directed continued support to over 1.41 lakh students enrolled in 15 skill-based trades from Classes 9 to 12, ensuring they are guided into suitable careers.

Regarding Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), Dulloo said that pre-primary education must be integrated with care services in a well-planned manner. Pre-primary classes are set to begin in 15,550 schools, with 13,804 helpers (AAYAs) already engaged.

The review also covered infrastructure projects like Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs), girls’ hostels, and schools selected under the PM SHRI scheme. A total of 396 schools in J&K have been shortlisted under PM SHRI.

Secretary School Education Department, Ram Niwas Sharma, informed that the UT has been divided into 188 education zones (97 in Jammu and 91 in Kashmir), with a total of 24,137 schools—18,724 government and 5,413 private—catering to over 26 lakh students.

He added that J&K’s literacy rate, as per the NSO 2017 survey, stands at 77.30%. The cost of educating each student in a government school is approximately ?1 lakh per year—significantly above the national average.

The meeting also noted the full operationalization of the Vidhya Samiksha Kendra in Jammu, which is helping drive data-based decisions. Additionally, four educational chatbots have been launched: Smart Attendance J&K, J&K Study Buddy, Field Monitoring Bot, and Parent Pulse Bot.(KNS)