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Srinagar, October 30 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir Education Minister Sakina Itu on Thursday said the government is committed to strengthening the basic education system.
Sakina Itu addressed the orientation program for capacity building of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) AAAs (Assistants) at J&K State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), Bemina.
Addressing the gathering, Minister Sakina emphasized the government’s unwavering commitment to nurturing young minds through inclusive, child-centric and sports-based education.
He said that this orientation program is an important step towards strengthening the foundation of quality education in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Minister highlighted that early education serves as the cornerstone for cognitive, emotional and social development, and lays the foundation for lifelong learning and child success.
“Early childhood care is the most formative stage in a child’s life and the vision of the government is to ensure that every child in Jammu and Kashmir gets quality early childhood education to inculcate curiosity, creativity and self-confidence in children,” he said.
The Minister underlined the Government’s vision of strengthening the early childhood care and basic education system in Jammu and Kashmir, highlighting the need for trained and compassionate facilitators to ensure holistic development for all children, especially those from marginalized sections.
He said that such orientation programs are important to realize this goal. Speaking on the importance of the Orientation Programme, Minister Sakina called upon the participants and AYAs to make the most of this Orientation to familiarize themselves with the ideals of basic education and early childhood care.
The Minister appreciated the efforts of AAYAS for their dedicated and sincere work, and highlighted that they have an active role in furthering the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which emphasizes on early childhood education.
Additional Chief Secretary and Director, SCERT encouraged teachers and caregivers to adopt innovative and inclusive teaching methods in line with local culture, language and community needs.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Joint Director of Education highlighted the broad outline of this orientation programme, and said that the focus of the orientation is to improve the understanding of the participants on the roles and responsibilities of ECCE and ECCE AAYA.
Relevantly, this orientation of AYAAS is an important milestone in advancing early childhood care and education across Jammu and Kashmir. The partnership between the government, JKASW and UNICEF expanded opportunities for ECCE ayasas to receive specialized training and resources, ultimately benefiting thousands of young learners from vulnerable backgrounds.
The cascading process started with the training of 65 master trainers across Kashmir division who will train 3000 AYAs at DIET level in 10 districts from 3 November to 8 December 2025 in the first phase.
JKASW, in collaboration with UNICEF, will provide technical and logistical support to train the target AYAs during the training.
–IANS
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