55 Govt schools closed in Valley
250 teachers transferred in Srinagar, more transfers in offing
In a major move towards rationalisation in government schools, the Education Department has closed down 55 schools in the Valley having zero roll or roll less than 13 students.“We have closed down 55 government schools and merged them with other schools to maintain a proper roll. We closed schools with zero roll or roll lesser than 13,” Chief Education Officer, Farooq Ahmed told .
The Education department has also transferred 250 teachers in the first phase.
“We are ascertaining pupil-teacher ratio in schools and have taken teachers from schools, where the number was in excess and placed them in schools where there were no teachers. 250 teachers were shifted in the first phase in Srinagar district,” Farooq said.
He said second list of 100 to 200 teachers would be out by this week.
Farooq said the department had not shifted teachers outside the district but within the eight education zones of Srinagar.
He said the move generated a lot of “displeasure” from the teaching staff and other concerned stakeholders.
“These orders had come from top level and we had to abide by them. Instead of transferring them (teachers) to others districts, we shifted them from one zone to another,” he said.
After taking over as Minister for Education, Naeem Akhtar has cracked whip on the education system to rationalize it.
Farooq said more schools need to be closed down and the process is on.
The process of rationalisation was started from district Bandipora, where government transferred 170 teachers to the schools having poor Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR).
