Academic monitoring committees formed to facilitate quality education

GANGTOK, 03 March: The State Government, on 26 February last month, constituted 3-tier academic monitoring committees tasked with the responsibility to review and, as the name suggests, monitor academic activities at government schools with a prescribed view to bring in quality education. The 8-member academic monitoring committee at the headquarter level has the Secretary, Human Resource Development Department as Chairman, the academic monitoring committee at the district level will have the HRDD Joint Director for the district as chairman and the committee at the block administrative level will have the HRDD Assistant Directors of the respective BACs as chairmen.

The Gazette Notification issued by the HRD Department lists separate sets of terms of reference for the three levels of the academic monitoring committees.
The premiere committee at the HQ is required to twice a month and “examine” the contents of the textbooks prescribed for schools here and recommend changes to the government if any are required in the textbooks. This committee will also monitor the activities of the district academic monitoring committees and also analyse the performance of different schools after the board exam results are announced. This will be followed up with suggestions to cover any deficiencies noticed in individual schools.
The committees at the district level, which will be monitoring school activities more closely, have been tasked with the responsibility to suggest measures to improve academic delivery at schools to the committee at the HQ level.
The committee at the block level, meanwhile, has been directed to “co-opt” the services of subject experts from schools under their jurisdiction and recommend necessary changes and areas of improvement on the academic aspect of schools. They will also be monitoring the availability of textbooks, exercise copies, uniforms etc in their respective areas.
The composition of the committees is as follows:
Academic Monitoring Committee (HQ)
Secretary – Chairman
Members: Special Secretary, Director (School Education), Director (Technical Education), Additional Director (SE), Joint Director (SIE), Joint Director (DIET), Joint Director (Exams).
Academic Monitoring Committee at District Level
Joint Director of the District – Chairman
Members: Deputy Director of the District, All Assistant Directors of the District.
Academic Monitoring Committee at B.A.C Level
Assistant Director of BAC – Chairman
Assistant Education Officers - Members