Ailing education department
By: Mohammad Farooq Wani
It is surprising for every conscious citizen to see chaotic situations prevailing in school education department both in valley as well as in Jammu. The department has become talk of the town when almost all newspapers carry stories very frequently with the sole idea to bring back the derailed system on the track. This reflects the poor and incapable administration on both levels including poor academics in schools.
Let me be honest in sharing that teachers are seldom involved in teaching alone nowadays and are picked up from schools and entrusted with different surveys like Adhar cards preparation, electoral roll surveys and election related assignments. This has adversely affected the academic side in the govt schools where 85% students have poor financial background. When you deploy teachers for works for which they are not appointed and curtail them from their basic job, the results will always show-up in their performance and subsequently in the performance of schools.
While the job of a teacher is to impart education to the students without a break then why would the administration withdraw them from schools, from time to time, and deploy them for different surveys? I fail to understand the reason for the creation of a parallel office in the name of ‘Chairman Fee Structure Committee’ in both the provinces which is headed by a retired officer who in addition of his pension may be getting additional perks for restructuring fees in private schools, though the committee created for the purpose for over 08 years has miserably failed to restructure uniform fee in private schools. Now, the administration is deploying teachers to assist the Chairman of this committee which is one more bizarre thing as it is none of the business of a teacher and yet another distraction from the actual role a teacher has to play.
The opening of this parallel office has resulted in additional burden on the govt exchequer like providing of govt vehicle besides cost of monthly petrol, perks and salaries. What are the duties of the directors then? The directors should never remain confined in making transfer orders alone and engage its own clerical staff for the purpose without involving qualified teachers who are meant to teach students in their respective schools. Their presence in schools will surely benefit the students rather to deploy them elsewhere.
The tragedy is that teachers are supposed to do clerical job and are therefore deviated from the given assignment, the real purpose. It is utterly unwise for the govt to allow fee structure committee officer any further functioning as it has apparently becomes parallel to the offices of DSEK and DSEJ.
Pertinent to mention here that honourable L.G has already advised directors of both the providences to detach all teachers from all offices for their respective substantive posts but still a big chunk of teachers are attached in offices as the orders of the L.G have not so far been implemented in true spirit.
