Theres a racket operating for transfers and postings in the Department
Jammu: Following the shocking revelation that 124 schools in Jammu and Kashmir had zero per cent student enrolment, the Education Minister Naeem Akhtar said Saturday that the coalition government was committed to overhaul the educational scenario to create a knowledge-based society in the state.
The Minister said Jammu and Kashmir had historically been the source of knowledge and enlightenment in whole of the South Asia. It was here that the first Buddhist conference was held in the 4th century, Akhtar told a press conference in the winter capital Jammu informing that Kashmir used to be known as Sharda Peeth (seat of knowledge).
Akhtar said even up to the contemporary times, the iconic personalities like Krishna Joo Razdan, Shiv Kumar Sharma, K.L. Sehgal and Mallika Pukhraj were born here. Not long ago, Lal Ded and Sheikh Nooruddin Wali were born here, he said. Sheikh Nooruddin set up the first girls school in Kashmir during the times when girl literacy was unheard of in South Asia.”
Dismayed over the drop in the literacy rank, Akhtar vowed to achieve 100 percent literacy rate according to the new governments vision document. ”Today our literacy rate in J&K has dropped to 6th rank in the country, he said. The present education system in the state is a juggernaut which is either focused on employment or creation of infrastructure and the least spoken about in the present educational system of the state is the child”.
The minister said there are at present 24,265 schools with 16.68 lakh students and 1.43 lakh teaching staff.
“This means in physical terms the state education department is half of the entire state government. And yet, the pass-out percentage of government schools is 50% which is 25% less than that of private schools.
In the Jammu province during the last five years, just four students have figured in the top 20 in the 10th class exams,” the minister informed.
He said the most difficult problem for the department has been postings and transfers of teachers.
“It is not fully verified, but I have been told that there has been a racket in transfers and postings and the racket goes right up to the exam centre where bids were held at astronomical rates to manage exams”, Akhtar said.
The minister said all this will have to change. “We will ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency, Akhtar said. I will make government schools competitive and attractive so that people send their children to these schools and not pay exorbitant rates at places where education had been reduced to a lucrative business.
He also said that relocation of teachers to places where their services are gainfully utilised, postings of teacher couples together at convenient places where they can deliver and incentives like laptops to middle school headmasters are just the beginning to make the turnaround possible.
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