Srinagar: The latest Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2019-20 has depicted a grim picture of the school education department in terms of Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) and availability of facilities for students in government schools across J&K.
As per the official figures produced in UDISE, there are around 23165 government schools in J&K and all the schools have disproportionate PTR across J&K from primary to senior secondary level.
As per norms, the PTR in government schools at elementary level should be 30:1 followed by 35:1 at secondary level and 40:1 at senior secondary level respectively.
However, the UDISE-2019-20 has revealed the disproportionate PTR in government schools wherein the PTR in primary schools is 15:1, 8:1 in upper primary schools, 12:1 in secondary schools and 20:1 at senior secondary level schools.
Notably, the total student enrolment in government schools is 12.71 lakh from pre primary to senior secondary level. This includes 74842 students at pre primary level, 5.34 at primary level, 3.04 lakh at upper primary level (6th to 8th), 8.39 lakh students from 1st to 8th class, 1.92 students at secondary level and 1.64 lakh students at senior secondary level respectively.
The national report has also depicted a grim picture of government schools in terms of facilities provided to Children with Special Needs (CWSN) in J&K.
The figures reveal that around 23629- 13319 boys and 10310 girls CWSN are enrolled in government schools from class 1st to 12th in J&K government schools.
However, only 1.36 percent of government schools have friendly toilets and functional CWSN friendly toilets in J&K. The figures have punctured the tall claims of the school education department to equip all the government schools with facilities for CWSN and provide easy access to CWSN in government schools.
“Only 40.94 percent government schools have ramps for CWSN in J&K while only 145.15 percent government schools have handrails to provide support to the CWSN,” the report said.
Meanwhile an official said the ramps were constructed by Election Commission of India (ECI) in government schools which were designated as polling stations for voters during the last parliamentary elections.
“The funds for construction of ramps and electrification of schools designated as polling booths were directly transferred from ECI to the concerned district administration in order to facilitate specially-abled voters,” the official said.
The national report has also revealed the lack of facilities in schools which has deprived the students of their access to computers.
The UDISE 2019-20 has revealed that out of 23165 government schools only 14.58 percent schools have computer facilities for students while only 64.15 percent schools have library facilities and only 5.18 percent schools are equipped with internet facilities for students.