Baramulla’s Educational Revolution | Digital Studios, Innovative Projects & Adult Literacy Drives The priority sector of J&K at present is education, says Balbir Singh Raina, Chief Education Sector, Baramulla. Special initiatives have been taken for district Baramulla on a personal level. We have created a teacher informative centre in Baramulla. We have created another facility in district Baramulla which is a digital studio. The higher secondary schools in far flung areas like Tangmarg, Uri, Dangarpura and Rampur did not have subject specific teachers. We started online class and hybrid learning. We created a repository and got recruiter lecturers to the studio to record their lectures. And we distributed these recorded lectures to the students. Normally education sector closes in winters but our schools here run despite winter vacation. A student narrated how he made a smart dustbin in ATAL project. It involves coding and robotics. An ultrasonic sensor has been used in the smart dustbin. When someone is within its range, the lid of the dustbin opens automatically. We do not even have to touch it to lift it and this also maintains our safety. We can launch this in the market at a very low cost, the Baramulla student said. I have made a product called Smart Blind Stick. It is for those who have no light in their eyes. It will help them in walking, sitting and getting up. It has a sensor which detects from a distance, at least two to two and a half meters. This sensor makes a sound when something comes in front of it. This lets the person in whose hands it is known that we should be cautious. Balbir Singh Raina, Chief Education Sector, Baramulla said we have started a special training center for the children who did not come to school or were out of school. In STC we bring them to the age appropriate classroom. There is level 1, level 2 and level 3. This way we can groom the children and fill those gaps. Baramulla is the biggest district with 18 educational zones. There are 230 BDOs who are not aware of the latest apps. In the Teachers Information Centre we give training to our BDOs. In the Noor survey programme we did door-to-door survey. This survey was completed by visiting 1 lakh sixty six thousand four hundred sixty nine houses. In that survey, children who were out of school or never enrolled children due to some reason, we brought eighteen hundred and sixty-three children in the survey. For the adults too, we did a survey then gained their contact numbers and registered their names. Those who felt they needed training came. First they did not know how to write their name. Now they are getting familiar with the alphabets. Now they are able to write their names and also put their signatures. When these elders used to go to banks, they used to fill the bank slips with the help of others. After we launched the scheme, it has helped those who have not studied at all. If they support us volunteers by approaching us we will help them learn. The government has kept us to teach those who have never seen education. Today the world revolves around digital. Money gets transferred through mobile. I have trained elders in English and Urdu, said a volunteer. The Samajik Chetna Kendra is there to help them and the people should take advantage of these government schemes.