Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has revoked the order of de-clubbing already merged schools, implying that the order amounted to being a “counter reform”. The order was issued last week by the newly appointed education minister ChoudharyZulfikar. The minister had asked for de-clubbing of schools, which were merged due to scant enrollment of students in order to spare the staff for productive engagement.
“The CM has directed the education department to stop de-clubbing of schools which was initially started in Jammu region few days ago,” a top official in civil secretariat said.
Greater Kashmir on Saturday reported that the present education minister has started undoing the decision for merger of schools- an initiative started three years ago by the then education minister Naeem Akhtar to ensure optimum use of teachers and their rationalization.
Minister for school education ChoudharyZulfikar had ordered de-clubbing of government schools while chairing a review meeting of education sector of Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.
Later, chief education officer (CEO) Doda issued an order and instructed all the zonal education officers (ZEOs) of the district to de-club all the schools falling in their respective zones and “make them functional at the place where such schools were first opened.
The chief minister, however, is learnt, to have got annoyed by the order of de-clubbing the schools. The CM is has condoned the decision of merging schools with least enrolment and more staff with other schools. “The decision to merge such schools was one of the major reforms in education sector and has been successful,” the official said adding that the department has stopped de-clubbing of schools following CM’s directions.
In 2015, as many as 2406 schools including 1834 schools working from rented accommodations were clubbed in Kashmir while as over 1490 schools were clubbed in Jammu region.
The merger of over 2400 schools in Kashmir gave a surplus staff of 3553 teachers in these co-located schools.
As per norms, a government primary school has to accessible for student within one kilometer while as a middle should be within the range of three kilometers. Also, high school should be accessible within the range of five kilometers and higher secondary school should be available at a distance of seven kilometers.
But, the primary schools were established haphazardly under SSA scheme by successive regimes of J&K. Old town Baramulla is a case in place where 28 government schools were set up within the radius of one Kilometer. In 2015, all these schools were merged by the then education minister in 2015.
Though the logic behind the education minister’s decision to de-club the merged schools was not immediately known, sources close to the chief minister said she considered the new order as a “counter reform” and ordered for the revocation of the order.