SUHAIL FAROOQ & SHAKIR MAJEED
We hope that you must be all aware with this quote which is engraved on the walls of schools that isEducation is the modification of behaviour. But it took us a long time to recognize the real sense of the words which are embedded in this phrase. The phrase is of the meaning that Education is the only key that can modify us or even our whole society. The whole scenario is based on the phrase , we are not contending this quote but the real sense should be served among the needy ones which is not happening and is totally mysterious.
KASHMIR which is called the HEAVEN ON EARTH but this is in the context of the beauty which KASHMIR possesses , but beauty is not the only tool that can prosper us. So, in order to prosper ourselves we must use such instincts that can be even more encouraging . EDUCATION is the only thing that can help us to prosper in many different ways but we are just taking it easy that is why we are still counted in least literacy rates that is 67.16% as per Indiacensus.net. We are still waiting to go up but so many times we failed . There are loop holes that needed to be filled so that the dream of many could be achieved.
In April 2023 ,The Jammu and Kashmir administration announced budgetary allocation for all the departments wherein the School Education sector has been allocated an amount of Rs 1522 crore for the financial year 2023-24. When such a lot of money is allocated in the Education department the where are the results , it is just a commonsense thing that when there is input there must be some output but there is totally a different thing of only giving input with no results. . This year, the JKBOSE Class 12 exams saw a registration of 127,636 students, among whom 82,441 successfully passed, leading to a pass percentage of 65%. The performance of girls surpassed that of boys, as they achieved a pass percentage of 68%, while boys had a pass percentage of 61%.
This is the result of 12th grade this year 2023 , there are questions that must be answered:
1: Why every year there is increase in girls passed and not the boys ?
2 : Why both the genders do not excel in same ratio ?
3 : Why the result ratio of Government schools is always less than Private schools ?
We all know that , KASHMIR being the most disturbed territory of the country the Education sector saw the crust and truffs always and thereby the situations have always affected this sector. It does not affect the employs of this sector they are always getting their wages on time but only the students have faced the situations time to time. There is only one age group that can help the society to tackle these situation but the requisite is that such group should be from 18-25 and with this they must be fully trained nad well equipped . But when the work is zero then there must be the declining of results. It is not us but our work force which does not provide us the well guidance and true mentorship, what can a student do without any guidance .
There are series of events that have time to time affected the student class in KASHMIR like:
1: FLOODS IN 2014
2: BURHAN PERIOOD
3: ABROGATION OF 370
4: COVID 19 [Lockdown]
These are the latest events which took place in KASHMIR , during these events KASHMIR saw various ups and downs every sector was affected due to these events , the whole economy was broken the education of students was affected but we can not blame the government on some events like natural events but there are some events which require to be criticized for various reasons.The budget is the reason on which they are criticized, where does the budget go if the whole budget is consumed but where are the results now, another reason being the infrastructure of the schools , competence of teachers, recruitment of teachers etc.
There is a need to discuss these issues thorrowly, when there is discussion there is solution and when there is no discussion there is no solution.When there is surplus budget for education sector there should also be surplus results but we are not seeing that. There is totally a different scenario . The allocation of budget and consumption of budget is secondary concept that can be revealed through RTI Under RTI Act , 2005 . Everyone can achieve this information by simply paying 10 Rs as fee for RTI.
Second issues is the issue pertaining to Infrastructure of the schools which is the most important side that needs to be critically watched for a good outcome.Talking about present status quo of Kashmir division there are some villages that are still facing problems related to infrastructure of school buildings , even some school buildings are not fully ventilized and not good to use and if used an unseen act could be faced a disastrous event could happen.There are some school buildings in KASHMIR which are still in functioning but without adequate space and proper security. There are various effects of these buildings without proper spacing and low modernized structure likewise parents are not allowing their wards to admit in such schools not having proper infrastructure students are not able to coup up within such environment. If we take an example of those areas which are having good and modernized infrastructure of buildings as compared to those which does not possess such facilities results are expected to be weak. These are the loop holes which need to be filled with better administration and proper allocation of resources.
Third issues is related to competence of teachers , when there is incompetence among the mentors result is expected to be weak. If there is mispronouncement of information provided by the teachers to the students there arises an uncertainity among the students as a results they are not able to compete with those who have full-proof information. So, in order to compete with others there must be no uncertainity among the learners. Even though government teachers receive a good amount of salary but there are some teachers which are not providing their best to the nation , the only reason behind this is lack of motivation .
Last issues is the issues related to recruitment of teachers , this is the most important side that needs an close look. The total number of employs in JKBOSE is 22856 with 10200 schools on an average 2 teachers are being allotted to each school. The move comes years after the government formally accorded sanction to formal closure of the ReT scheme and its recruitment process in November 2018 . An RTI application has revealed a significant number of vacant lecturer positions in the Kupwara district. The RTI was filed by Tajamul Islam, a law student, seeking details about lecturer vacancies. According to the Director of School Education Kashmir (DSEK), a total of 128 lecturer posts are vacant in 18 Higher Secondary Schools and 12 High Schools in the district.
Official sources indicate that Kupwara district has a total of 54 Higher Secondary Schools, 102 High Schools, 700 Middle Schools, and 894 Primary Schools. However, only 18 Higher Secondary Schools and 12 High Schools responded to the RTI, sharing the vacancy figures
The shortage of lecturers in educational institutions has created a void, affecting the smooth functioning of schools and the teacher-pupil ratio. The availability of subject-specific lecturers in sufficient numbers is crucial, according to official sources. We have the information of lecturer vacant posts of kupwara distt only now we can imagine what could be the position of other districts in Kashmir division?
Conclusion :
Department of school education should pay close attention on the issues discussed above and must address them as soon as possible for the betterment and overall development of students.There should be more and more involvement of the higher authorities to check regularly the loop holes which are continuously hinder the environment of Education. There is an urgent need of an commission which can regulate the smooth functioning of the schools and also to check the competence of teachers.We highly suggest the government of Jammu and Kashmir to establish a body that can recognize the loop holes then after correct them with due procedure so that the spirit of Education could be retained properly.
The authors can be reached at sheikhshakir236@gmail.com & Gsuhail744@gmail.com
