Amid increasing dip in the covid surge in Jammu & Kashmir like several states and union territories of the country the poor showing by government schools in just announced class 12 results is attracting the attention of the people towards the lack of academic facilities in government run schools in remote rural areas. While the fact remains that Chief Education Officer Bandipora has attributed zero percent result recorded for the second time in a row by higher secondary school Kishley of frontier Gurez area of North Kashmir’s Bandipora district to non availability of lecturers and assigning charge of Principals of seven higher secondary schools to just one Principal , the school education department does not resolve the crisis of understaffing in the schools of remote rural areas particularly border areas like Gurez. Interestingly most of the urban and semi urban parts of Kashmir valley have performed better than many famed private schools and the government schools are suffering from the crisis of poor performance only in far flung areas including border pockets in both Kashmir valley and Jammu division. Forget about the upgradation of basic infrastructural facilities in government run schools in the far flung areas of Jammu & Kashmir the availability of teaching staff in remote rural areas left unresolved by successive popular governments of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir has not been addressed by the School Education Department even during last two years. The government schools of far flung areas in either Kashmir valley or Jammu division by any standards of understandabilities can never ever improve their track record of results in Board examinations in absence of required teaching staff and adequate basic infrastructural facilities.
As private schools are very rarely operating in border pockets and remote rural areas of both Kashmir valley and Jammu division there is obviously no substitute to government schools in such far flung areas. Instead of looking into the issue of overstaffing in the plains of Kashmir valley and Jammu division, the administrative wisdom demands that school education department embarks on a plan of rationalisation of teaching staff and upgradation of basic infrastructural facilities in the government schools in far flung areas including border pockets in both Kashmir valley and Jammu division.
While the school education department is clubbing schools to address the issue of overstaffing in government schools in the plains of both Kashmir valley and Jammu division, the understaffing in schools of remote rural areas particularly border pockets is becoming the cause of poor performance by government schools in such inaccessible areas. As private schools are very rarely operating in border pockets and remote rural areas of both Kashmir valley and Jammu division there is obviously no substitute to government schools in such far flung areas. Instead of looking into the issue of overstaffing in the plains of Kashmir valley and Jammu division, the administrative wisdom demands that school education department embarks on a plan of rationalisation of teaching staff and upgradation of basic infrastructural facilities in the government schools in far flung areas including border pockets in both Kashmir valley and Jammu division.
