The local administration should take some corrective and timely measures to address the issue
The recent transformation in the way students-teachers interact, more specifically because of the pandemic, has poorly impacted the lives of students belonging to the underserved communities residing in the remote and rural regions of the country. In Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, the situation needs the immediate attention of the authorities.
The border district of Poonch is about 240 km from Jammu. Here, the situation of government schools in every tehsil is miserable. The government school in Urai Malikan Panchayat, Mandi tehsil, which is 31 km from Poonch, has decent infrastructure and is attended by a good number of children but unfortunately, the strength of the school staff is not enough.
“Our school was shut for the last three years because of the lockdowns imposed due to Covid-19. Two months ago, the schools were re-opened but the teachers have not returned. Only two, at times one, subjects are taught that are negatively impacting our education,” shared Yasmeen Akhtar, a Class 10 student in this school.
Although the school has contributed significantly towards sports education but is unable to achieve the same quality for the rest of the subjects. The school in-charge, Master Mohammad Deen, said that this school received the status of High School in 2015 under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) - a flagship scheme of Government of India, to enhance access to secondary education and improve its quality.
Since then, the posts in this school have been lying vacant. The school has one post of master grade, one post of teacher and one post of a physical teacher vacant. The school staff consists of only five people. “We try our best but the quality of education
is compromised because
we have more than 329 students and it is extremely difficult to teach five subjects in ten classes each,” rued Mohammad Deen.
He further informed us that special teachers were appointed in 2016 and at that time the school had the best matriculation result but after some time their services were discontinued.
Only these five teachers are responsible for conducting classes, managing the school, including the Mid-Day Meal and other office work. Muhammad Aslam Malik, Sarpanch of the region, said, “As it is now a high school, the Education Department should address the issue at the earliest. More teachers should be hired to ensure that the education of the student is not impacted any further. Due to the lack of teachers, the children just go to school and return without any learning.”
According to Muhammad Yunus, Clerk at the Head Zonal Education Office, Mandi tehsil, there are 158 government schools in Mandi Education Zone, five Higher Secondary, eight High Schools, 53 Middle Schools, 91 Primary Schools and one KGBV. Of the 53, 49 middle schools do not have head teachers. Out of the eight high schools, two do not have headmasters. This includes High School Udai Malkan and High School Dinnogam.
Under such conditions, it is not very difficult to assess the quality of education being offered to the students who mostly come from poor families residing in this tough geography.
“We are trying,” said Abdul Majeed, Chief Education Officer, Poonch, and a similar answer was provided by Bashir Ahmed, Zonal Education Officer, Mandi, when asked about the measures being taken to address the situation.
“Schools have reopened after a long haul because of Covid-19. We are consulting with the teachers to get the system back on track and to bring some teachers from those schools where teachers are more and children are less,” said the Zonal Education Officer, assuring that in the next one month people will definitely see a change.
Parents are very worried about the inappropriate ratio of teachers and children in High School Udai Malikan. Three children of 39-year-old Imtiaz Ahmad Malik are studying in Udai Malikan High School. According to him, this school was running very well. First, the situation was not favourable for a few days due to the cancellation of the special status of the state, then two and a half years were ruined due to Covid-19.
When the schools opened in 2022, the children who had lost three years of education were again faced with the challenge of staff shortage. As per him, the local administration should take some corrective and timely measures to address the issue.
Musrat Naz, a student of Class 10 in the same school, said, “Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao is a very significant step taken by the government to ensure that girls’ education is promoted at all levels, but girls in my region are unable to participate in the government’s ambitious plan due to gaps at the local level.”
(The author is from the border district of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir: Charkha Features)
