School Education Director told to ensure registration of NGOs on portal
Vikas Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 13
In a significant move to prevent duplication of benefits and making grant-in-aid system transparent and efficient, the J&K School Education Department has instructed the Director, School Education, Kashmir/Jammu, State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, to ensure registration of NGOs in the NGO Darpan Portal of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Ayog.
NGO Darpan was earlier maintained by the erstwhile Planning Commission which has now been replaced by NITI Aayog w.e.f. January 1, 2015. The portal, therefore, is being maintained at present under the aegis of NITI Aayog. The portal facilitates VOs/NGOs to obtain a system generated unique ID, as and when signed. The unique ID is mandatory to apply for grants under various schemes of ministries/departments/ governments bodies.
Sources said the head of the departments (HoDs) have also been directed by the department to develop grant-in-aid portals and integrate with NGO Darpan Portal (via web services). They added that the motive behind it was to ensure that grants from multiple sources would be monitored in an effective manner.
Further, directions have also been issued to provide a list of NGOs/VOs and private institutions to the Administrative Department, which have availed grants from the departments during the last two financial years. The list will be forwarded by the School Education Department to NITI Ayog.
The sources added that the School Education Department in 2018 had roped in 20 NGOs to improve academic standards in schools and sought their assistance in teachers’ training programmes. The department had also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with several organisations to assist officers at the school, zonal and district level and improve their leadership skills.
The initiative was taken after the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry had expressed concern over the poor performance of students of J&K at the school level. The Central ministry had asked the then erstwhile state government to engage some NGOs to improve the learning outcome levels among students in government schools.
“NITI Ayog has developed the NGO Darpan Portal to provide platform to the Central ministries/departments/ states/union territories and NGOs/VOs to bring transparency accountability and efficiency in engagement of NGOs/VOs for partnering with government initiatives.
NITI Aayog maintains portal
- NGO Darpan was earlier maintained by the erstwhile Planning Commission, which has now been replaced by NITI Aayog w.e.f. January 1, 2015.
- The portal is being maintained at present under the aegis of NITI Aayog.
- The portal facilitates voluntary organisations/non-governmental organisation, to obtain a system generated unique ID, as and when signed.
- The unique ID is mandatory to apply for grants under various schemes of ministries/departments/ governments bodies.
