JCPS to organise mega education conclave
To help the education sector in the state to grow to international standards, Joint Committee of Private Schools is going to organise a mega education conclave from May 24.
The conclave will be attended by international educational experts from Jammu and Kashmir and other states. The aim of the conference to make state aware of the latest trends in the educational sector and show a way forward in both private and government schools.
The Committee in a statement said that due to lack of proper infrastructure, shortage of well trained teachers and government funds for education, lack of adequate resources and poor governance, J&K’s educational system suffers from serious drawbacks and problems. “Government schools are allowed to remain mediocre because they lack competition and accountability and this has allowed the private sector to assume a greater role in education Sector,” said G N Var president JCPS. “Here experts and educationists from private and government sector will sit together brainstorm new ideas, so that we can raise the standards of our education sector.”
The Committee said that there is now a tremendous amount of acceptance and acceleration in private involvement in public schooling and private schools account for 40% of total enrolment.
“Studies in cities like Srinagar and other towns show that upward of 75% of children in these cities are attending private schools. This trend holds true in rural J&K well,” said Var. “So if something works in a private school, we want to find out why and what we can transfer to the public system? What can be learnt from private education providers who are innovating and adding value?” “We can have a model of cross-sector collaboration that produces high quality results,” said Var.
Those participating in the conclave include Ekta SOdha who is CEO of Cadmus Education, India (which she co-founded with Professor James Tooley) and Sodha Schools, which builds on her family business of the last 30 years. Under her leadership the school chains have grown to 6,500 students, serving low-income families in fishing villages, rural communities and market towns in the state of Gujarat. Under Ekta’s leadership, Sodha schools achieved 5 th rank in Gujarat for its high educational quality, low cost model, by one of Asia’s premier education magazine DIGITAL LEARNING.
Geeta Gandhi Kingdon is Professor at the Institute of Education, University College London, where she holds the Chair of Education Economics and International Development. Prior to this, she was Research Fellow for 11 years at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford. Her research on Economics of Education is based mostly on statistical analysis of education datasets. Based on this research, she advises governments and donor agencies. Professor Kingdon is also President of the board of the not-for- profit City Montessori School Lucknow, which has 53,000 students. She divides her time between the UK and India.
KV Correspondent
