National Seminar on issues in Development and Governance of Social Sector inaugurated

Amritsar, February 24 (Punjab Post Bureau)- A two-days UGC-Sponsored National Seminar on “Issues in Development and Governance of Social Sector in India” was inaugurated here today at Guru Granth Sahib Bhawan Auditorium of Guru Nanak Dev University. This seminar is being organized by the School of Social Sciences of the University.  A large number of researchers, students and teachers from various Universities and Institutions are participating in this seminar. The keynote Speaker of the day, Dr. Rukmini Banerji, CEO of Pratham India, briefly highlighted the evolution of Education and the status of Education in India. On the basis of the survey carried out in 70473 villages covering more than 350232 households and 562305 children in the age group 3 to 16 years, she highlighted that there had been steady improvement observed at levels of enrollments. The proportion of girls who remained out of school with the age group of 11 to 14 years was highest in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. On the other hand, Kerala and Gujrat are the states which have shown remarkable increase in government school enrollment in the age group of 11 to 14 years.

She further highlighted that the reading ability of the children of government schools of Punjab, Haryana, Gujrat and Maharashtra has improved whereas the ability to perform simple arithmetic has been abysmally low. Dean, Academic Affairs’, Prof. NS Tung presided over the inaugural session. In his Presidential Address, he highlighted the need for improvement of quality social infrastructure and its governing strategies to improve education and health sector of Punjab. Prof. Kuldip Kaur, Head of the Deptt. & Director, Seminar, welcomed the guests and delegates present in the Seminar and highlighted the shortcomings of the social infrastructure in India and suggested the  need for increasing role of the state in ensuring better provisions for education and healthcare in Punjab. Dr. Anjali Mehra, Co-Director of the Seminar, conducted the proceedings of the Seminar and Dr. GS Bajwa, Organising Secretary, proposed the vote of thanks.