On Srinagar-Baramulla highway a single storey building houses government high school. In its shadow, on a large stretch of land, another building that sports a separate sign board stands tall. It is Government Middle School. These twin schools at Sangrama, just few meters away from each other mocks at government’s rationalization process that was initiated by the previous government with much fanfare. These two schools share same compound spread over almost five kanals of land. A single-storey building constructed in the middle of the premises acts as a border line between the two institutions. “This building was constructed few years ago and we use it for examination purpose as our high school is also cluster head and students from class 5th to 7th appear in their exam here,” said a teacher posted at the high school. The school education department has constructed four single-storey buildings, with three rooms each, and a kitchen (for midday meals) for Government High School Sangrama. The authorities could have instead gone for vertical construction that would not only have saved the funds but land as well. Three buildings with three rooms each have been constructed in same manner on one of the extreme ends of government middle school. In total there are seven single-storey buildings. But the enrollment in both the schools isn’t more than 120 students for whom the department has posted more than 20 teachers. The chief education officer (CEO) Baramulla, Abdul Ahad gave a bizarre explanation for not clubbing the two schools: “The good enrollment could have been the reason,” he said. “Basically, when schools are clubbed they are still shown as functioning separately as per UDISE data. This can also be a reason for not clubbing these two schools,” he said. Three years after rationalization policy and when Greater Kashmir brought the issue into his notice, Abdul Ahad said the department would now authorize headmaster of high school to have administrative control on both schools. In 2015, the school education department clubbed 2406 schools in Kashmir including 1834 schools working from rented accommodations and 572 government-owned schools, under the process of rationalization – an exhaustive exercise that was aimed at streamlining pupil teacher ratio (PTR) in government schools. But this school depicts how the policy is far from completion. The meagre roll in the school is an outcome of the flawed policy to upgrade schools without taking into consideration the parameters including student population. Over the years, the department has upgraded Middle School (MS) Amargarh, MS Choora, MS Muqam and MS Putkhah – located within a radius of less than four kilometers. All these middle schools earlier used to serve as feeding school for Sangrama high school, but now the enrolment in all these schools has failed to show any improvement given the flawed up gradation of the schools. The case of Sangrama schools is not the lone one which raises question about official apathy towards school education in Jammu and Kashmir. The official figures about other issues and problems confronted by the schools in Kashmir reveals a disturbing trend. Few years ago, the school education department claimed having constructed toilet blocks in all the schools under government of India funded Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBM). Later a report was submitted by the department to union ministry of human resources development (MHRD) claiming all the schools across the valley were covered under the program. But contrary to the claims the situation is pathetic in most of the schools. As per official figures, also announced by former education minister in the state legislature, nearly 1000 girls’ schools are without any toilet facilities in Kashmir while around 26000 toilets units and lavatories in the schools are in dilapidated condition. Another 17,901 schools are without electricity, 17,167 schools are without boundary walls and 17,112 institutions are without playgrounds. Besides, almost 50 percent of government schools in the valley are in “semi-dilapidated” condition. “The fact that 1000 girl’s schools are without toilets speak volumes about failure of the government to implement the program despite the fact the department claimed to have utilized lakhs of rupees for construction of toilet blocks in all the schools under the centrally sponsored program,” said an official. Ironically, the school education department has recently started a fresh exercise to collect details of schools with functional toilet blocks, dysfunctional toilet blocks and those schools which are without toilet blocks.
HIGHLIGHTS
The department has constructed four single-storey buildings, with three rooms each for High School Sangrama. Three separate buildings with three rooms each have been constructed nearby, for Government Middle School. In total there are seven single-storey buildings. But enrollment in both schools isn’t more than 120 students for whom the department has posted 20 teachers