Since the population of children in a country comprise its human resources of the future and the social, economic and cultural growth development of any society or community hinges upon the quality of its human resources, the government should have taken all measures to ensure quality education in government run schools but the quality education in government run schools has become an issue of concern for both the educationists and as well as the people . If the figures made public by UNESCO in recent years are to be believed India has the lowest public expenditure on education per student in the world and consequently the situation in Jammu & Kashmir is no more different from rest of the states of the country. So can it be said that funding is the issue with government schools? Clearly not. It is one of utilization of these funds. There has, unfortunately come into existence, a big class divides coupled with a rural-urban divide in education, in terms of facilities and quality, which has serious social consequences and could lead to social upheaval. Schools in backward rural areas are the most neglected, and the standard of teaching deplorable. Even in other areas, schools to which children of the underprivileged have access are run by the State or local authorities.
By and large, these have a poor record of performance. The most glaring of the problems with government-run schools is that of infrastructure. Poorly maintained buildings, dilapidated classrooms, ill-equipped libraries and laboratories, lack of sanitation facilities and even drinking water are issues that the students grapple with everyday. Availability of qualified teachers and the student-teacher ratio is another tale to tell. Improvement is though noticeable in the curriculum and teaching methodologies but emphasis is being laid on developing reading and writing skills but not holistic education. Lack of vocational training and non-availability of such courses renders students with barely any employable skills at the end of their schooling. These factors, coupled with other social circumstances have lead to alarmingly high dropout rates in the Jammu & Kashmir state.
A public-private partnership in education is the most suitable to check corruption, ensure efficiency and proper utilisation of allocated funds.
Most schools are miles away and largely inaccessible to the students. While noting that adequate number of elementary schools is to be found at a “reasonable distance from habitations”, the government can’t refute the reports that this is not the case with regard to secondary schools and colleges in the state. It has been noticed in several independent education survey reports that two-thirds of those eligible for secondary and senior secondary education remain outside the school system today. These high rates of school dropouts as a result, lead to the ineffectiveness of the reservation policy in institutes of higher education. Complete privatisation of education is certainly not the answer. It would only drive costs of education or the whole of society higher up and cannot possibly enhance accessibility of schools substantially. Providing free education to children belonging to this category is a policy which private schools are in disagreement with. A system in which the schools are owned by the government but managed and operated by the private sector is a workable alternative. The government could bear the costs of running the institution, with suitable incentives to the private players willing to invest in such a venture (possibly in the form of tax benefits to the private organisation); while the management and operation of the school would be in the hands of the private organisation/establishment. While this would ensure an exponential increase in the quality of education that is accessible to the masses, but it may drive up the government’s expenditure on education. However, a public-private partnership in education is most suitable to check corruption, ensure efficiency and proper utilisation of allocated funds.
