Y.S. RANA, CHANDIGARH– Ms.Rina Ray, IAS, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of HRD, Government of India today visited few schools of Chandigarh and interacted with the officials of Educations Department. During the visit Ms. Ray reviewed the infrastructure, teaching techniques, energy conservation through solar panels, cluster kitchens setup for cooking mid day meals.
During her visited she spoke to the principals, teachers and students of GMSSS 16, GGMSSS 18, GMHS 43, GMSSS 47 and GMHS KHAJERI.
The purpose of the visit was to ascertain the best practices followed by Chandigarh in terms of School Education and apply those in schools of other cities to make them better.
During the visit Ms. Rina Ray informed that Chandigarh has been selected as the only among the union territories by the Government of India to participate in the Programme for International Student Assessment ( PISA) 2021 which is conducted on an International level and which is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) in member and non-member nations that initiated in the year 2000 and is repeated after every three years. The examination is conducted to evaluate educational system worldwide by measuring 15- year-old school pupil’s scholastic performance in Science, Mathematics and Reading.
Preparations for PISA involve an action plan constituted by the Department of School Education, Chandigarh which would involve applying knowledge gained in new ways, analyzing concepts into parts and relation with each other, evaluating judgement- based on the process taught, creating processes in an innovative way, special coaching classes for slow learners for improving learning outcomes, effective and regular mentoring and monitoring.
Around 21000 students of 15-years age of Hindi and English medium schools will be prepared by the Education Department to participate in the preliminary selection organized by PISA.