Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Jan 18: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also Member of Parliament from Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha constituency, has placed before the Government of India a proposal for setting up of Regional Institute of Education by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) at Basohli in district Kathua.
In a written proposal submitted to the Union HRD Minister Smriti Zubin Irani, Dr. Jitendra Singh has urged that Basohli be included as one of the Centers for setting up of new Regional Institutes of Education planned by NCERT as per a recent decision by the Narendra Modi Government. He has also offered to make the required land available for this purpose from voluntary sources when the proposal is approved by the HRD Ministry.
Justifying the setting up of such an institute at Basohli, Dr. Jitendra Singh pointed out that an NCERT Regional Institute of Education there will have the added advantage of simultaneously catering to three States of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. All these three States share close proximity with this town and therefore, an institute set up at this location could serve the educational requirements of not one, but three States at the same time and also help improve expertise and quality of education in entire North India.
Referring to over 20 years of militancy related turmoil in the State of Jammu & Kashmir, Dr Jitendra Singh said, mass exodus of youth from the State to other parts of country was, to a great extent, the result of lack of education avenues and employment opportunities. Therefore, an initiative like this will be a step towards youth empowerment which is vital for the development agenda which the State Government has envisaged for itself for the coming years,he added.
Pertinent to mention here that the major academic functions of the Regional Institutes of Education set up by NCERT include designing and implementing innovative pre-service teacher training programmes, conducting continuing education programmes for staff of DIETs, CTEs and other educational functionaries in the region, carrying out research and development activities in various areas of School Education and Teacher Education and also assisting States in development and valuation of curriculum, materials, textbooks, etc. Such Regional Institutes of Education are already functioning with high credibility and rating at Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Shillong and Mysore.
It may be recalled that even before his election as an MP and thereafter as well, Dr. Jitendra Singh has been vociferous in demanding a university campus for the hill zone of Basohli-Bani-Billawar, which is recognized as a separate district in the BJP organizational set up.
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