Schools in rural areas out of government’s sight

Srinagar, Aug 2: The government-run schools in the rural pockets of north Kashmir districts are grappling with the deficiency of the teaching staff, leaving the students at the receiving end.

The educational institutions including the higher secondary schools have been left teacher deficient during the peak academic session even as the annual examinations are approaching after two months.

As per the official figures, the schools in rural areas of north Kashmir have been left teacher deficient for years together while no measures have been taken to provide adequate teachers to the school children in these areas, mostly dependent on government schools.

Government Higher Secondary School Purana Tulail is a case in place.

The school has a sanctioned strength of 25 teaching staff against which 18 posts are lying vacant and only seven posts are filled.

Two lecturer posts, as per the official documents, are lying vacant in the school since August 2023 while Master post is vacant since 2019.

The posts are lying vacant at a time when the government is asking students to focus on the academics as their annual exams will be conducted after two months.

Earlier, the education minister while ordering reopening of schools post summer vacation said that prolonged vacation for schools was not possible considering the upcoming annual exams. However, the schools, in rural areas are without teachers.

The situation in high schools of Gurez area is no different from higher secondary schools.

Government High School (GHS) Tarabal has a sanctioned strength of eight teachers staff against which four are lying vacant.

Similarly in GHS Achoora, against the sanctioned strength of seven posts only three posts are filled while in GHS Barnayee Tulail out of 12 sanctioned posts only four are filled and eight posts are lying vacant.

In GHS Buglinder, out of 11 sanctioned posts, nine are lying vacant and only two are filled.

The deficiency of teachers has raised fingers over the seriousness of the School Education Department (SED) in strengthening the government schools in rural areas. These schools are teacher deficient at a time when the schools in city and towns are over staffed and in some schools, the teachers outnumber the students as well.

Earlier, Minister for Education Sakina Itoo said that the teachers who have served in cities and towns for decades will be posted in schools located in remote areas. However, the schools in rural areas continue to remain understaffed. Secretary School Education Department (SED) Ram Niwas Sharma, Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) Ghulam Nabi Itoo were not available for their comments on the issue.