Education system in crisis, J&K ranked 3rd from bottom among States: Akhtar
As per the survey, around 79 percent of 5th class and 65 percent of 8th class students were not able to read the text of 2nd class text books.
The Government on Monday admitted the education sector was in “crises” in Jammu and Kashmir, revealing that the State ranked 3rd from the bottom among all the States and Union Territories (UTs) in National Achievement Survey (NAS).
Education Minister Naeem Akthar’s more than one-hour speech was mainly focused on failure of the previous Governments in taking advantage of centrally sponsored schemes and making full use of funding the Governments had received.
Winding up the discussion on demand of grants for School and Higher Education, Akhtar referred to the 2014 survey conducted by the NCERT which had presented grim picture of the education system in J&K and admitted nothing much has changed after the PDP-BJP coalition took over in 2015.
As per the survey, around 79 percent of 5th class and 65 percent of 8th class students were not able to read the text of 2nd class text books.
“Nothing has changed…I don’t claim any success on ground,” Akhtar said. “I call it a crisis situation. To bring reforms is a challenge and I need collective support of the members.”
The Minister talked about a survey recently conducted in some education zones across Kashmir saying in north Kashmir 30 percent of the students from Government schools can’t read their books while as 27 percent students were not able to do basic calculations in mathematics.
In south Kashmir, the Minister said, 40 percent students can’t read their books while as 51 percent can’t do division.
The samples collected from central Kashmir were equally disturbing, said the Minister, revealing that 36 percent students from the sample schools close to Srinagar couldn’t read their textbooks while as 24 percent students couldn’t do divisions in mathematics.
“The ground situation is that JK state has figured third from the bottom in the National Achievement Survey in Education and it is a major concern,” the Minister said. “I am talking about the place which has been the hub and source of knowledge in the past.”
In his exhaustive speech, the Minister said J&K has invested about Rs 40000 crore in the education sector in past 10 years. But, he said, the achievements were dismal.
“There has been just 1.94 percent increase in the class 10 annual results during the period,” he said as he enumerated competence of the teachers and learning levels among the students as major challenges for the Department.
“I found these two issues as a big challenge during my visits to schools for past one year,” he said.
Without naming, the Minister targeted the previous National Conference-led coalition Government for failing to make full use of schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
“The main motive of SSA was universalization of education but the scheme was changed into universalization of schools,” he said, revealing that in past six years, of the sanctioned Rs 9000 crores under the SSA, only Rs 5500 crore had been utilized.
“The intellect and academic component of the scheme remained unutilized. We could have trained more than 2000 teachers for B.Ed programs and another 5000 teachers could have completed diploma course under the scheme but nothing was achieved. That is why there is a very thin line between MGNREGA and SSA today,” he said.
He talked about violation of norms under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme by previous Government which, he said, had an adverse impact on Education sector.
“Money was available for each component including teacher training and school maintenance but the funds were not accessed by the state government,” he said. “Against the availability of Rs 2750 crore just Rs 5.40 crore were utilized under the scheme.”
He said crises erupted in the education department with respect to the dearth of subject specific teachers owing to wrong implementation of the scheme.
“Under norms each school upgraded from Middle to High school, under RMSA scheme, was supposed to get five teachers on contract basis with monthly wages of Rs 27160 but the previous regime violated the norms and promoted the in-service teachers irrespective of the required subjects in the school,” he said.
To overcome the crisis, the Education Minister said, the Department was now utilizing services of youth, who have studied in foreign universities, on voluntary basis.
J&K, Akhtar said, had got approved 90 Model Schools under a centrally sponsored scheme for educationally backward blocks and each school had been allocated funds worth Rs 5 crores.
“The scheme wasn’t implemented in J&K and by the time we (PDP-BJP) Government took over it had been winded up,” said the Minister, adding the plan for construction of Girls Hostels in 97 blocks had met the same fate.
“I can’t build Taj Mahal in a day,” he said responding to the criticism over dearth of teachers in schools.
Speaking on rationalization started by the Education Department the Minister said the process was not permanent but can be reviewed as and when need arises.
