Lopsided pupil teacher ratio in govt schools

The problem of lopsided pupil teacher ratio (PTR) in government schools in Jammu and Kashmir has not been solved till now. That is very strange. The Union Ministry of Education has also pulled up the School Education Department (SED) over the issue but still nothing has been done so far.

The ministry has remarked that J&K SED has over 10,000 surplus teachers available but their services remain un-utilised. The Education Ministry’s repeated directive to streamline the PTR in schools and ensure quality education to the students is continuously being ignored.

As per reports around 22 percent primary schools and 60 percent upper primary schools are with adverse PTR. The reports say that while the schools in rural and far flung areas are without adequate number of teachers, the schools in the city and towns have teachers more than required.

The services of surplus teachers are not utilised and the students in rural areas are made to suffer in absence of teachers. The preference of teachers to teach only in city and town schools and not to go to rural and far flung areas for teaching, must come to an end.

They should be ready to teach in schools beyond city and towns as well. More than teachers, the officials of SED are also responsible for creating such a scenario.

Education being an important sector, needs more seriousness from the concerned officials while dealing with matters and issues related to it. A child in a rural area has the same educational right as that of a child in a city or in a town.

He or she should not be deprived of the right.

There are reports that a single teacher is made to run a primary school in some far flung areas. How can the teacher do justice with his or her work under these conditions? Subsequently, the quality of education gets affected.

If the foundation of the students’ education is laid weak, how can they do better in next classes? All schools must have teaching staff as per the requirements.

Streamlining of PTR has to be done on priority basis so that justice is done with the affected students. Since the schools are reopening in the first week of March after the winter vacation, the exercise of streamlining must be done at the earliest.

Once the examinations are held in March-April and results declared, the students in rural and far flung areas must not face the shortage of teachers in the new classes. This is a serious issue and needs to be solved with matching seriousness by the department, without any further delay.