The Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra (Retd) inaugurated the Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) at District Institute of Education & Training (DIET) Leh in the presence of Deputy Chairman, LAHDC Leh, Tsering Angchuk; Advisor to the LG, Dr Pawan Kotwal, IAS; Principal Secretary, School Education, Sanjeev Khirwar, IAS and Director, School Education Department, Tsering Paldan, JKAS.

At the outset, LG Ladakh asked the School Education Department led by Principal Secretary, Sanjeev Khirwar, IAS, to follow up on the issues flagged by Deputy Chairman, LAHDC Leh, Tsering Angchuk and try to address these issues at the earliest. Stating that education is the most important basic need of life, the LG asked the teaching staff of the Education Department to work sincerely and intensely with good intentions to improve the education standards.

He informed about the issue of attachment of teaching/non-teaching staff of the Education Department and the steps taken by the UT Administration to frame the policy to ensure that there are no headless schools and rationalisation of posts or resource persons in the Education Department.

Highlighting the job profile of teachers to provide the best possible education to the students through the correct attitudinal approach, the LG stated that the teachers must know the strengths and weaknesses of students along with providing them proper guidance to help them become good citizens of India. He also highlighted the roles of teachers in the success of Vidya Samiksha Kendra.   

Deputy Chairman, LAHDC Leh, Tsering Angchuk congratulated the Education Department and UT Ladakh on the inauguration of the Vidya Samiksha Kendra at DIET Leh and informed about various initiatives taken by the Education Department to improve the education standards in Ladakh. He highlighted the need for a policy for the 10+2 lecturers who teach Education, Environmental Science and Statistics subjects at different Government Higher Secondary Schools in Ladakh to define their roles due to the exclusion of these subjects, shifting of government schools from JKBOSE to CBSE pattern. He also highlighted the need for the upgradation of DIET along with improving its staff strength. Angchuk stated that qualified teaching staff are required for the proper functioning of the ICT labs in Ladakh.

Director, School Education, Tsering Paldan apprised the LG of the key elements of Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK), including the digital initiatives taken by UT Administration such as the distribution of YounTabs to students, the establishment of 220 interactive flat panels under Samagra Shiksha, the establishment of 120 ICT labs under Samagra Shiksha, the establishment of 190 DigiLabs in Ladakh with help from 17,000 ft, the conduct of National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) capacity-building programme for teachers and school principals, the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software and the inauguration of Vidya Samiksha Kendra; the implementation, vision, purpose, benefits of VSK along with the 6 A’s (Assessment, Administration, Accreditation, APAAR, Attendance and Artificial Intelligence) framework for VSK; the focus areas of the A’s Mapping; the implementation status and the starter packs, etc.

Earlier, Principal Secretary, School Education, Sanjeev Khirwar, IAS, welcomed the guests and gave an overview of Vidya Samiksha Kendra, first launched in Gujarat in 2021, which will help in administering the education system in a better way along with the MoU signed with Hitachi MGRM Net Ltd as the technology partner.  

Chief Education Officers (CEOs), Zonal Education Officers (ZEOs), Principals and Headmasters along with other officials of School Education Department were present during the event.