IBEX NEWS,Shimla.
Today, the State Project Office, under the leadership of Shri. Rajesh Sharma (IFS), State Project Director, organized a comprehensive review meeting with the newly appointed Secretary of Education, Rakesh Kanwar (IAS). The meeting, held at the State Project Office in Shimla, was attended by key officials including Pankaj Rai, Special Secretary Education, B.R. Sharma (HPAS), Additional Director of Elementary Education, Gopal Sanghaik from Higher Education, and Shri. Hemant Kumar, Principal of SCERT Solan. Additionally, Deputy Directors from elementary and higher education departments and District Project Officers (DPOs) from all 12 districts participated via an online platform. The meeting also saw the presence of all intervention coordinators from the Samagra Shiksha and STARS Project Management Unit team.
In his capacity as State Project Director, Shri. Rajesh Sharma (IFS) presided over the meeting and extended a warm welcome to the new Secretary of Education, highlighting the critical role of strong leadership in the development of the education sector in Himachal Pradesh.
The meeting commenced with Dr. Shashiranjan Jha, Head/Lead of the HP STARS Project Management Unit, delivering a presentation covering topics such as the Performance Grading Index 2.0 (PGI), National Achievement Survey, and the National Education Policy 2020. Following this, Suneel Sharma, Nodal Officer Planning, Samagra Shiksha, presented an overview of the overall progress of the Samagra Shiksha initiative.
During the meeting, the Education Secretary shed light on the educational achievements of the state, both in the past and present. He stressed the importance of enhancing the quality of education, particularly in government schools, and emphasized methods to improve student learning outcomes. The Secretary also called upon officials to pay special attention to the development of Children with Special Needs (CwSN) and the reintegration of Out of School Children (OoSC) into the education system. He directed DPOs to bridge the gap between educators and learners, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of classroom learning. In his closing remarks, he underlined the necessity of collaboration among all facets of the education department, focusing on a unified objective of elevating the state’s ranking in the field of education.