Knowing that the government teachers conduct coaching classes both during peak winter and summer months on commercial lines, the Director School Education Kashmir has asked them to desist from coaching practices now. The teachers as usual will turn a deaf ear to the advice of the Director School Education in the absence of a ban on the coaching practice by government teachers. Unless and until the government does not ban coach private practice by government teachers the improvement in the educational standards in government schools is unlikely to improve. Ironically the government does not even simple explanations from the non performing teachers responsible for poor results in examination conducted by the Jammu & Kashmir Board of School Education (J&K BOSE) annually. The laxity shown by the school education department in enforcing institutional and administrative accountability for regulating the working of teachers is an issue of huge public concern. Recent newspaper reports about the poor results in most of the government schools in examination conducted by J&K BOSE has not caught the attention of either the administrative secretary of the school education department or the advisor to Lieutenant Governor Grish Chander Murmu holding the portfolio of schools education department. The usual practice of checking attendance of government teachers won’t improve institutional and administrative accountability of teachers working in government run schools. Suspension of teachers for remaining absent from duty is though a good practice to enforce regularity of teachers in government run schools but government can’t improve regularity of teachers in government run schools without seeking explanations from the school heads on rampant absenteeism of teachers in schools.
Enforcing the regularity of teachers through schools heads would by all standards of understandabilities reduce the interest of government teachers in the conduct of coaching centres by the government schools. As such better it would be for the government to seek explanations from the school heads on regularity of teachers and improvement in the results conducted annually by J& K BOSE than advising teachers to desist from coaching practices.
Schools heads failing to oversee the regularity of teachers in government run schools evade action. Enforcing the regularity of teachers through schools heads would by all standards of understandabilities reduce the interest of government teachers in the conduct of coaching centres by the government schools. As such better it would be for the government to seek explanations from the school heads on regularity of teachers and improvement in the results conducted annually by J& K BOSE than advising teachers to desist from coaching practices. Though the allegations are galore that private schools managements are getting a free hand in violating both the court directions and the government decisions due to the laxity shown by the Education Minister, but the government is yet to take a strong notice of such allegations against the managements of some leading private schools in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley. The government is showing so much laxity in taking disciplinary actions against the managements of some leading private schools that no action was taken against the lady principal of a private school who misbehaved with the students after consuming liquor during working hours. Allegations are galore that government by virtue of showing laxity in taking actions against the managements of private schools on violating both court directives and the decisions of the school educations department has virtually gone for complete surrender. While the education minister is showing laxity in taking actions against the private school management on charges of misconduct and violation of court orders and government decisions, he tends to enforce his decision to put the working teachers to screening under the garb of a high court just to humiliate all teachers for the fault of just one teacher who failed to write an essay on cow in the court of law. Not the selectiveness, but objectivity in action can restore the pristine glory of education system in the state. Better for the education minister to redefine and redesign his priorities and strategies for streamlining the educational system in Jammu & Kashmir state.