Digital Student Attendance Soon in Jammu and Kashmir Schools

SRINAGAR: Secretary School Education, Piyush Singla reviewed progress on the establishment of Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The initiative, which aligns with the National Education Policy 2020, is aimed at ensuring real-time monitoring of various projects and activities under the Samagra Shiksha program besides leveraging data and technology to bring a big leap in learning outcomes”, maintained the Secretary while assessing progress on creation of this vital utility in the region.

Piyush Singla said that setting up of VSK is an innovative project driven by the Prime Minister, being replicated across the country. VSK will cover data of all schools, students and teachers, for meaningful analysis through big data analysis, artificial intelligence and machine learning, he added. He observed that, monitoring dashboard along with integration of data analysis-based Call Management Utility and reporting system of VSK shall be helpful in creating a conducive ecosystem in the Education Department.

He said that, with establishment of VSK, analyzing the areas for decision-making and implementation shall become easy. VSK shall increase accountability among all the field-level staff/ administrators, HoDs in monitoring the real-time status of various project components under the ambit of School Education, he maintained.

Secretary also asked the implementing partner, to ensure deduplication of data at all the fronts. He reiterated that, tracking of student enrolment, progress in their learning levels, mainstreaming of out of school children, textbook delivery, support required by teachers and schools should be integrated with the VSK.

He also said that, the aim is to have this state-of-the-art facility operational by February 2024, marking a significant milestone in our efforts to modernize and streamline the education system in Jammu and Kashmir.”

Piyush Singla also announced a targeted timeline for establishment of the Command-and-Control Centre (VSK) in Jammu and Kashmir as February, 2024 which shall be made completely operational by 1st of March, 2024. He informed that, from new academic session attendance of students shall be recorded digitally and School Management system shall be in place for digital admission process besides efforts shall be made to bring all the Schools on one Dashboard.

He said that, the Command and Control Centre is expected to enhance efficiency, communication, and data management, contributing to an improved educational experience for students and educators alike.

Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, Deep Raj, apprised the Secretary that VSK is a data repository, powered by Swift Chat AI (Artificial Intelligence), which would enable technology and data-driven systemic change in all schools of Jammu and Kashmir. He informed that, VSK shall be established temporarily in the JKBOSE building situated at Rehari Colony and shall be iconic project for the UT of J&K.

He said that facility of VSK shall completely transform the education system across the UT. He further apprised that AI chat bots for students, teacher and parents have been created and shall be made live in the coming days for regular exercises, thus enhancing the learning outcome of students.

The meeting was attended by Special Secretary, Anu Behl, Joint Director Planning, Parshotam Kumar, DD Planning, Bilal Rashid among others stakeholders from the empaneled firm.