ZAHOOR AHMAD LONE
Recently Worthy Principal Secretary School Education department of Jammu and Kashmir issued a circular for showing the door to non performing employees which include both teaching and non teaching employees in the School Education department. I fully support the move of Worthy Principal Secretary School Education.
Indeed there are some non performing officials in the school Education department both from teaching and non teaching community to whom needs to teach a lesson .But one of the factors mentioned in the circular was low enrolment. On mere low enrolment the education department can not declare a teacher non performer .Only teachers are not responsible for low enrolment in government schools. There are a number of factors responsible for low enrolment. Firstly, the mushrooming of government schools during the SSA scheme is the main cause of low enrolment.
The SSA scheme was launched in the year 2000 .The main aim of this scheme was universalisation of elementary education. But unfortunately this scheme was not implemented in such a way it should have been implemented by the then officers who were at the helm of affairs at that time the then officers opened and upgraded the schools for their own interests.
During the opening of new primary schools and upgrading primary schools into middle schools the guidelines of the SSA scheme were thrown into the dustbin by the officer at the helm of affairs. As per SSA guidelines for opening a primary school there should have been one kilometer distance between two primary schools and two kilometer distance between two middle schools. But If we have a glance around there are primary and Middle schools which are 100-200 meters distance from the other primary and middle school. We can have some examples where the distance is less than 100 meters. If there are 10 habitations in a village ten primary schools are opened in the village. At least we can see two or three middle schools in a village .That was not the aim of the SSA scheme.
This mushrooming of primary and middle schools is the main cause of low enrolment in government schools. The school where I am presently posted has about 15 schools in its radius of less than one kilometer which includes primary, middle and secondary schools. In such circumstances there is all possibility that a school may not have desired enrolment. Secondly the low infrastructure as compared to private schools is also the cause of low enrolment. There are 80% middle and primary schools which don’t have sufficient accommodation. Most of the middle schools are running in three roomed buildings. Is it possible to conduct nine classes in three classrooms?
The lack of accommodation also becomes an obstacle in enhancing the role in such schools. Thirdly insufficient teaching staff in primary and upper primary schools also results in low enrolment in government schools. Most of the primary and Middle Schools don’t have sufficient teaching staff. In a primary school there should be at least 5 to 6 teachers to teach six classes from K.G to 5th .The government is rationalizing teaching staff as per roll but it should be as per number of classes in the school. Fourthly, the unattractive and outdated books from Ist to 5th is the most important obstacle of low enrolment in government schools. The books for Ist to 5th in government schools do not fulfill the learning requirements of a learner. Fifthly the non availability of pre primary classes in government schools is another main reason for low enrolment.
During our times parents were admitting their kids in the school when the child had attained the age of 6 years. Now the education scenario has changed and parents admit their kids in the school at the age of 3.The parents look for those schools where pre primary classes are available and private schools come first in this field. No doubt school education department has started K.G classes in government schools last few years back but these classes are not official i, e these classes don’t get the benefits provided by the education department to Ist to 8th classes like free textbooks, free uniforms .free mid day meals, scholarships etc .Also these classes are officially not registered.
Now the New Education Policy has brought a ray of hope .As per the guidelines of NEP 2020 there would be pre primary classes in all government schools. We hope that in Jammu and Kashmir UT the NEP will be implemented from March 2022.The official commencement of pre primary classes will play a tremendous role in enhancing the desired enrolment in government schools.
Remedies: From last few years the school education department of Jammu and Kashmir has taken a number of initiatives with regard to providing all the facilities to students in government educational institutions .The school education department should give more attention towards primary and middle schools. These schools are the foundation of all education .When the foundation will be strong, the top too will be strong. Government needs to do more in the field of infrastructure, especially providing sufficient accommodation at primary and middle level. Some years back the government took the step of clubbing the schools having low enrolment or had no government building .As per reports, the government is clubbing more schools in future. This should be done in those areas where there are a number of primary or middle schools. My suggestion is that there should be one primary and one middle school in each village except some villages where there would be a need for more than one primary or middle school. The clubbing of schools will have two benefits, Firstly there will be desired enrolment for the standing school. Secondly there will be no dearth of accommodation. Also the dearth of staff could be fulfilled. But these schools should be clubbed with records too. In the past what has happened is that the schools clubbed with other schools have not been clubbed with record. There should be at least nine rooms for a middle school and six rooms for a primary school. No doubt there are some schools which have sufficient accommodation but the all scenario is that there is lack of accommodation in most of the primary and middle schools. Having a good school building with spacious classrooms is not enough. It needs to be maintained so that parents can find an attractive environment for their children. For the sweeping and cleanliness of the primary and middle schools school education department has engaged contingent paid employees in these institutions on a monthly wages of Rs 50/= or Rs 100/= Not satisfied with the wages these employees do not take interest in their assignments due to which the cleanliness and maintenance of the school suffers a lot School Education department should also give attention towards this issue. Also the government should rationalize the staff as per classes in a school. There should be at least ten teachers for middle and six teachers for a primary school. No doubt some schools have sufficient teaching staff but most primary and middle schools lack sufficient teaching staff. Lastly the government should prescribe qualitative books for government schools especially from Ist to 5th .Such books which suffice the desired learning goals of the students. Also there should be the same syllabus for the government as well as for the private schools. The government should review the text books of Ist to 5th classes of government schools. If the government provides such facilities to teachers and then teachers fail in enhancing the role, then the government must act against the non performing teachers. (Picture Credit: GK)
Author is a teacher from Bandipora and can be mailed at zahoorlone1979@gmail.com
