On November 18 at Kishtwar, it was announced that the district administration of Kishtwar had won the SKOCH Gold Category Award, placing them in second place in Jammu & Kashmir.
In a statement that was released here, an official spokesman said that the district administration of Kishtwar had just received the SKOCH Gold Award in New Delhi for the district’s outstanding efforts in mainstreaming children who were not in school and bringing them back into the educational system. This was done under the guidance and overall supervision of Deputy Commissioner Dr. Devansh Yadav.
In the gold category, the Kishtwar district was honored with India’s highest independent award for its “Out of School Children, Back to School initiative.” The award was themed “Out of School Children, Back to School Initiative.”
The District Commissioner was there to accept the award, and he was joined by Prahlad Bhagat, the Chief Education Officer, and Riaz Ahmed Butt, a senior professor at the DIET in Kishtwar.
Emerging as the second award winner in Jammu and Kashmir after the JKRLM, J&K, and SKOCH awards is a major milestone for the district administration of Kishtwar, as the acknowledgment represents its exceptional success. The JKRLM, J&K, and SKOCH awards were the previous ones that were won.
This award is given as an honor to the district of Kishtwar for mainstreaming about two thousand out-of-school children (OoSC) who were identified by the Directorate of SAMAGRA SHIKSHA Jammu and Kashmir using an app that was released in March 2021. By conducting in-depth data analysis and keeping a close eye on the situation, the goal of SAMAGRA SHIKSHA was to tally the number of children who were not attending school and maintain accurate records of their status.
After the issue was identified, the Deputy Commissioner of Kishtwar Devansh moved quickly to take a number of initiatives to address the issue. The project “Talaash” was started in 2022 under the aegis of the Directorate Samagra Shiksha J&K by the district administration in collaboration with DIET, the Education Department, and senior functionaries. The project’s vision and goal were to achieve 100 percent enrollment of the out-of-school children who were primarily from the Schedule tribe community.
The district government undertook efforts such as organizing special camps, raising awareness at the micro level, creating special winter coaching centers, and making provisions for logistics. In the more remote parts of the district, such as Drabshalla, Chatroo, Nagseni, and Bounjwah, the rate of OoSCs was much higher, especially among ST populations. The management of this school was successful in persuading the children’s resistant parents to enroll their children in school by dangling several enticements, among other things.
The material for the special bridge course was prepared with the assistance of DIET Kishtwar and Director SAMAGRA Deep Raj, who not only provided useful funds but also helped district administration in the noble cause by other means. The out-of-school children were given special attention and education in winter coaching institutions that were established exclusively for them. Immediately after their enrollment, a baseline test was conducted, followed by the special course.
After about five to six months of specialized instruction, the students of OoSC were given the opportunity to take an endline exam before being enrolled in schools in the surrounding area. Not only that, but once they were integrated into regular schools, they were given access to the services of seasonal instructors in their dhokas, even though the majority of them travel to the mountains in the summer.
The Deputy Commissioner of Kishtwar, Devansh Yadav, together with his delegation, were honored by the SKOCH group of India at the Constitutional Club of India in New Delhi in the gold category. This was a happy occasion for the district administration of Kishtwar.
