Education In Shambles
By Faisal Magray
Government Schools in Kashmir work in the rented buildings ranging from a single room to three rooms, whether owned or rented, almost all are dilapidated. Information revealed by the Directorate of School Education shows that there are 11633 Government schools in Kashmir division. This exceeds the number of villages, which stand at around 5,000. Most of the Government school buildings are rented, and few are government owned. Total enrollment in these schools is 10.23 Lacs out of which 5.73 lacs are Male students and 4.50 lacs are female. Most of the students who are enrolled in these schools belong to less privileged sections of society.
The picture is grimmer in the schools of Kashmir valley. Poor infrastructure continues to mar the performance of government schools, parents who are economically backward are sending their wards to these institutions. The government is not putting proper effort into streamlining the management of these schools.The economic survey report tabled recently in Jammu Kashmir state legislative assembly revealed that the number of dilapidated schools across Jammu and Kashmir doubled in just one year from 474 to 948.
Majority of the Government schools in Kashmir Division lack basic infrastructure like toilets, washrooms, and play grounds, furniture, libraries etc. School children are worst sufferers, they often do the job of cleaning and sweeping the school premises. They lay mats on the floor in the morning and roll them off every evening. The reason there are no sweepers in schools so the burden shifts to the children.
The common trend in Kashmir is that majority of parents who are economically wealthy, are admitting their wards to private schools which are said to have better facilities than those run by government. Lack of infrastructure apart, outdated teaching methods, outdated books, and the absence of libraries for children are other factors responsible for the trend.
*******Click on pictures to view as a Slideshow******
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| A lone student studies in a class room in a government school in Srinagar, Kashmir. |
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| General view of the government school operating in a collapsed building in Srinagar, Kashmir. |
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| General view of the five reeking classrooms, separated by plywood sheets, crammed in a 20-square-meter hall under a rusted roof with no ceiling at government school in Srinagar, Kashmir |
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| Kashmiri children take part in a lesson at a government school operating in a rented building in Srinagar, Kashmir. |
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| Kashmiri children take part in a lesson at a government school operating in a rented building in Srinagar, Kashmir. |
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| A student cleaning the classroom in a rented government school building in Srinagar, Kashmir. |
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| Students attending class in a government school in Srinagar, Kashmir. The school has no seating arrangements for students and they sit on dusty jute mats. In the absence of toilet, the students and teachers have to knock adjacent residential homes. |
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| Students play carom board on slab in a government school in Srinagar, Kashmir. The school also does not have playground and a slab adjacent to the school provides escape for the curricular activities of children. |
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| A student reads a paper in a class room in a government school in Srinagar, Kashmir. School is functioning from a crimpled, dilapidated hall of commercial building and lacks basic facilities like drinking water and toilet |
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Students taking mid-day meals at government school operating
in rented building in Srinagar, Kashmir.
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| Students doing class work in a government school in Srinagar, Kashmir. |
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| Teachers lead their classes in a single room of a government school operating in a rented building in Srinagar, Kashmir. The room has been partitioned by school staff to give space for two cramped classrooms that holds two sections of students from different grades. |
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| Students wait outside class room in a government school in Srinagar, Kashmir. |
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| A student stands near his class room during a break in government school in Srinagar, Kashmir. |