The Government Schools even if intensify the ongoing enrollment drive can’t compete private schools in any part of Jammu & Kashmir till at least half of more than 8000 vacant positions of teachers are filled through a proper recruitment process.
Jammu & Kashmir Government has now admitted it on the floor of the assembly that understaffing due to zero recruitment for the vacant positions of teachers in Government Schools since 2019 paints a dismal picture of public education system across the Union Territory. Shortage of teachers in Government Schools is obviously a major cause of the failure of public education system in Jammu & Kashmir and as such recruitments for over 8000 posts of teachers presently falling vacant in Government Schools deserves immediate attention and intervention of the School Education Department. The Government Schools even if intensify the ongoing enrollment drive can’t compete private schools in any part of Jammu & Kashmir till at least half of more than 8000 vacant positions of teachers are filled through a proper recruitment process. Notably MLA Kulgam M Y Tarigami while participating in the debate on this year’s budget in the ongoing budget session of the assembly asked the Government to take immediate measures for smooth functioning of Government Schools which he said are the last hope for the children of low income groups falling in BPL and AAY categories besides those of other lower middle classes. Since Government has already scrapped the much popular Rehber-e-Taleem recruitment scheme, the referring of thousands of vacant positions of teachers to J&K Services Selection Board (J&K SSB) for immediate fast track recruitment remains the only option for the Government. The recruitments of teachers in thousands is undoubtedly a huge challenge for the Government but keeping in view the increasing burden of teaching on the teachers even after merging 2-3 schools almost in each and every area of the Union Territory in the previous years there is obviously no shortcut to a mass recruitment drive for the vacant position teachers by the Jammu & Kashmir Services Selection Board (J&K SSB) in given timelines during the financial year 2025-26.
“Further delay in carrying out such a massive recruitment process for overcoming understaffing would obviously bring the Government Schools on a collapsing mode. So Government has to forget about competing Private Schools during the ongoing academic session and think about its unavoidable compulsion in drawing a roadmap for securing the future of Government Schools. Administrative wisdom demands that to secure the future of Government Schools shaken by growing understaffing and poor infrastructural facilities the School Education Department has a situational compulsion in initiating a mass recruitment drive through J&K SSB for filling thousands of vacant positions of teachers and also simultaneously draw plans for building the basic infrastructural facilities more intensely in rural areas than the urban parts of the Union Territory”.
The budgetary calculations for determining the affordability to fill maximum no of the vacant positions could be the first step in this direction and thereafter the status of referrals and a decision on referring more vacant position of teachers to ensure recruitment of at least half of more than 8000 vacant position could be another step. Further delay in carrying out such a massive recruitment process for overcoming understaffing would obviously bring the Government Schools on a collapsing mode. So Government has to forget about competing Private Schools during the ongoing academic session and think about its unavoidable compulsion in drawing a roadmap for securing the future of Government Schools. Administrative wisdom demands that to secure the future of Government Schools shaken by growing understaffing and poor infrastructural facilities the School Education Department has a situational compulsion in initiating a mass recruitment drive through J&K SSB for filling thousands of vacant positions of teachers and also simultaneously draw plans for building the basic infrastructural facilities more intensely in rural areas than the urban parts of the Union Territory.
