Shedding light on the developments in the education sector, V Sivankutty, Minister for General Education stated that the Kerala State Government has invested more than Rs 3,000 crore in the field of public education during the past seven years.
The minister was speaking at the inauguration of the Science Lab Complex at the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School at Murikkumvayal near Mundakayam on Thursday, The New Indian Express reports.
The minister added that the government has given equal importance to the aided sector and the government sector and that it considers all the students studying in both sectors equally. “As many as 45,000 new labs have been established across Kerala," he said.
Digital education
Talking about the important role played by technology in modern education, the minister further spoke about how it is integrated into the state’s general education system. "We are the ones who initiated digital education through Kite Victor's channel when the education sector in the world was at a standstill during the COVID. Online education has also been implemented so that teachers and students can interact more directly," he explained.
The minister further went on to extrapolate the need to integrate internet access into education, claiming that it “provides more opportunities for students in Kerala.”
“But teachers and guardians need to provide guidance to students in this regard. Agencies like Kite and Literacy Mission under the Department of General Education are implementing various schemes to ensure digital literacy for parents. With the help of various software, applications, artificial intelligence, robotics, tinkering labs and so on, the standard of teaching and learning activities can be raised to the international level," the minister went on to say.
Sebastian Kulathungal, MLA for Poonjar presided over the function. The report was presented by P Sreelekha, Executive Engineer, PWD Building Section. Anto Antony, MP for Pathanamthitta delivered the keynote speech. Other speakers included District Panchayat President KV Bindu; Vice-President Subhesh Sudhakaran; Kanjirappally Block Panchayat President Ajitha Ratheesh and Mundakayam Grama Panchayat President Rekha Das.
The minister also honoured Thomas Patrick, who was retiring from the VHSS, and contractors Jiji Veshnal and Mon Joseph Ottathaikkal on the occasion.
