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| J&K renders SSA ineffectual, unproductive; says MHRD report | | |
Syed Junaid Hashmi
Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 3: With sole focus on generating employment, addressing political concerns and increasing quantity but not quality of education; state government has rendered centrally sponsored Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) ineffectual and unproductive.
According to an official report, a copy of which is with Early Times, SSA has been rendered useless by those who had been assigned the task of implementing this prestigious scheme. Policy makers have failed to take into account the physical and geographical realities of Jammu and Kashmir. They have not been able to implement the scheme in the format in which it should have been.
According to report, 50 percent schools have shortage of teaching staff. Though the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development has repeatedly asked the state government to look at this shortage seriously and fill posts of the teachers on priority. 77.78 percent of schools are short of class rooms as per norms under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
Administrative department has been repeatedly asked to take this shortage seriously and address it but the same is not being done. HRD ministry has even commented that due to purely shortage of classrooms, it is not possible to fulfil basic objectives of the scheme when the basic infrastructure is not present in the schools.
16.67 percent schools do not have drinking water facility. 19.44 percent schools have no separate toilet facility. In the schools opened under the SSA, where drinking water facility is available, there also the supply is not regular. Moreover, water tanks are not cleaned at regular interval and some water tanks are not covered with lids. Similarly, in the schools which had the toilet facility, the toilets are unhygienic and in some schools, the toilets mostly remain locked.
The report clearly asserts that lack of drinking water and separate toilet facility discourages enrolment in the schools. HRD ministry has advised the school management itself needs to perform minor functions like cleaning of tanks and toilets but the same was never adhered to. Despite focus on digital India, very few schools have computer learning facility for students across Jammu and Kashmir. More than 80.86 percent students asserted that computer facility was not available in schools and there were no trained computer teachers posted in most of the sample schools.
Though 100 percent students were being provided books by the schools, but it was observed that the books were not provided in time. This is despite clear cut guidelines that books should be provided well in the beginning of the academic session so that the students do not suffer due to non-availability of books during their regular classes but this was never adhered to.
Another issue that has destroyed SSA is dropping out of the children from the schools especially females. The main reason of drop out of children, as stated by the concerned schools was migration as the parents of these children were migratory labourers working in the industrial area. As per the Right to Education Act 2009, private un-aided schools have to give 25 percent reservation to the students of weaker section and disadvantaged groups.
Since the Act has not been adopted by Jammu and Kashmir government, no private un-aided school has made any serious effort to take up this cause on its own. In several schools, the classrooms were without fans or the fans fixed were not working due to one or the other reason. In certain other cases, schools were without boundary wall and play grounds.
Absence of these facilities discourages enrolment. Despite completion of more than 10 years of implementation of SSA scheme, report maintains that there is still lack of basic infrastructure facilities in the government schools. Most of the schools were not having adequate class-rooms. The safe drinking water facility, separate toilet facility, fans, adequate sitting arrangement were not available in the schools.
Directions have been issued that authorities must ensure provision of these basic facilities, as lack of these facilities discourages enrolment in the government schools and in many cases results in migration to the private schools. With SSA facing these basic issues, Jammu and Kashmir government has to evaluate how to ensure that this scheme becomes a great success and in return, literacy rate takes a significant jump. |
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