We have a huge network of government run schools on J&K. There is hardly a place here, where we don’t have a government school. From the city centre to far flung areas, these schools are run with best of the infrastructure and the ablest of teaching staff.
This schooling network has started much before private schools started offering education at mass level. In fact, it all started with the idea of compulsive schooling, Jabri schools in local parlance.
Our earliest professionals and bureaucrats came from these sarkari schools. But unfortunately this huge network of schools is a huge story of failure.
Those parents who are serious in the study of their children would not even think of sending them to a government schools. That is why the entire space has now gone to private schools. That way private schools have filled up an important gap, and are performing well.
The question that pops up is about the failure of government schooling. Why we have less and less number of students enrolling in these schools. Why those who are poor and on the margins of society constitute the target group of these schools.
Why, despite enrolment drives, no substantial change is witnessed. The directorate of education must look into this matter with a degree of seriousness. And instead of some stereotype explanations, the officials at the helm should do some real brainstorming over this issue. The teachers that work at the ground level can best inform the Directorate about the reasons of this failure.
Unfortunately, we have experienced that no free and confident communication happens between officers and the staff working on ground, no serious discussion follows. There must be some structural, some managerial, and some functional reasons behind this failure. It would be better if the Directorate employee some professional, globally reputed organisation, in assessing the reasons of failure. The same agency can then be asked to draw a detailed plan for transformation. In this process of transformation input from teachers is crucial, and these teachers must be heard patiently, and respectfully.