The two days workshop on ‘Early Warning Systems’ held earlier this week was organised by Samagra Shiksha in collaboration with UNICEF, Jammu and Kashmir Association of Social Workers (JKASW) and National Development Foundation (NDF).
According to the organisers of the workshop, the National Education Policy 2020 states that one of the primary goals of the schooling system must be to ensure that children are enrolled in and are attending school.
As per the 75th round household survey by the National Sample Survey Office(NSSO) in 2017-18, the number of out of school children in the age group of 6 to 17 years is 3.22 crore.
“It will be a top priority to bring these children back into the educational fold as early as possible, and to prevent further students from dropping out, with a goal to achieve 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio in preschool to secondary level by 2030,” they said.
To achieve this mission, it is important to understand the main reasons for dropout and install mechanisms to prevent the dropout, they added.
With the technical guidance of UNICEF, Jammu and Kashmir will be one of the first few states or Union Territories to implement this system.
The technical session during the workshop was conducted by Ganesh Nigam, Education Specialist from UNICEF and an expert in early warning systems.
The Coordinator from Samagra Shiksha Raj Kumar Chaddha and 25 District Nodal Officers from Kashmir Division were present at the workshop under the directions of the Project Director Samagra Shiksha J&K Er. Deep Raj Kanethia .
UNICEF Education Specialist Danish Aziz said that UNICEF is a pioneer in this field and has already tried the approach based on international experiences and it can indeed be successful with the support of the Department of School Education Jammu and Kashmir.
Executive Director of JKASW Ashfaq Ahmad Mattoo said that they have been committed to this mission since 2021 and will be working closely in collaboration with Samagra Shiksha to implement the programme and make it a success.
