Regulating School Education

The Directorates of School Education in Kashmir as well as in Jammu have been receiving a very large number of
complaints ranging from problems of lack of basic facilities in the schools; missing teachers especially in rural and
far-flung areas; corporal punishment and more often for transfers.
According an official assessment the directorates have been able to solve 40% of the grievances and
complaints it has received from different sources, while 60% of the grievances are still being worked on at
different stages.
While the School Education Department both at Kashmir and Jammu may be trying to resolve the issues
raised in the complaints goes on swelling because the number of complaints keep on going up every day.
Notably, the directorates have been getting complaints about things like corporal punishment, teachers having
trouble getting transferred, and the placement of teachers.
Most of the complaints are about to malpractices indulged by the most of private schools that have been
charging fees and other miscellaneous charges under different nomenclatures.
Parents in J&K always complain that private schools take advantage of them when they try to collect fees and
other charges. This is a problem that has been going on for a long time. But commonly observed parents don't
keep consistency in pursuing their complaints for the fear of victimisation of their wards at the hands of school
management. Most parents who file complaints against private schools don't want to be found out and marked.
The directorate has also got complaints about teachers who were not there when they were supposed to be
and about the fake appointments of ReT teachers by the old regimes. There have been many times when
complaints were sent to the directorate about fake ReT teachers being hired. All of these cases are sent to the
Crime Branch, which looks into them thoroughly.
The grievance cell has also received complaints about the moving of schools in different parts of the Valley,
among other things.
The schools are moved because they have no students, and they are put together with schools nearby.
Over the past many years, the School Education Department (SED) has moved (clubbed) hundreds of
schools. The Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) in government schools was streamlined by putting these schools together
as part of the rationalisation process.
The Government appointed Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC) for the private schools
empowered to fix, determine and regulate the fee to be charged and collected by a private school have found that
many schools yet outsmart the official norms despite their specific orders and standing top courts' rulings from
time to time against the commercialization of the education
What is urgently required is that all such recommendations made by the committee shall be implemented by the
appropriate authority within a reasonable time as per procedure laid down. Keeping in view the tremendous importance of
School Education in our state, it requires prime focus of Administration to bring improvements in the system on priority.