Government Plans to Deploy Teachers Based on PTR in Schools: Dir Edu

Srinagar: Amid the persistent issue of lopsided Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) in government schools, the Education Department is focused on increasing the enrollment of the schools as per the availability of the teachers.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function, Director School Education Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Itoo said the department had been trying its best to utilise the services of the teachers as per the PTR in the schools.

“Over the last few years, we have run a process of rationalisation in entire Kashmir through which we are utilising the services of the teachers as per the available PTR in schools,” he said.

Itoo said that the posts of teachers are sanctioned in particular schools which cannot be shifted to other institutions.

“It is not advisable to shift the posts. Instead we can utilise the services of our surplus staff in the adjacent schools where there are more students or increase enrollment in government schools so that the number of students increases,” he said.

Itoo said that the department was trying to increase the number of students according to the number of teachers available in the schools.

“Once the number of students increases, the teachers posted in the schools will not be treated as surplus,” he said. About the gaps flagged in the latest ASER-2024 regarding the poor learning outcomes and the lack of infrastructure, Itoo said that the government was examining the gaps pointed out in the survey.

“The Directorate of Kashmir has made a special team for it. Recently, a meeting was convened by the Administrative Department as well. SCERT, J&K Board, and both the directorates have been given the direction to come up with a roadmap,” Itoo said.

He said that the roadmap to be submitted to the government would focus on the interventions needed to fill the gaps in terms of infrastructure or learning outcomes.

“The roadmap will also focus on if there is more requirement for capacity building of the teachers and exposure to the students. Our team is working on it,” Itoo said.

He said that the teams would submit the comprehensive roadmap to the government for further interventions.

“The government is very serious about it,” Itoo said.

However, he said that there were certain things pointed out in the survey wherein some indicators of the J&K Education Department are better compared to the national level.

“Wherever we have weaknesses, we have roped in University of Kashmir, JKSCERT, and J&K Board besides other NGOs who are working with us and have expertise in learning outcomes,” he said.

About the government preparedness for upcoming annual board exams, the Itoo said that the Education Minister has already convened a meeting with the officials of the Administrative Department to review preparedness.

“The meeting was convened to ensure better arrangements and proper coordination is in place. The minister has issued instructions to ensure hassle free exams in a conducive atmosphere,” he said.

Itoo said that the Education Minister expected to convene a high-level meeting with the Deputy Commissioners (DC), district SPs, and other officers in connection with the lifting of all stationery including the question papers in a foolproof manner.

About the availability of J&K BOSE textbooks, Itoo said that 60 percent of textbooks were already available and distribution process was started.

“The government earlier decided to restore the November session after which the J&K BOSE did not get much time for the groundwork. But the Education Minister convened a meeting with J&K BOSE and issued directions to ensure availability of textbooks in a time-bound manner,” he said.

Itoo said that 100 percent availability of textbooks would be ensured in the coming days.

“Wherever required we will utilise the old books out of the book bank that we create in the schools. The sets of our old books are available in most schools,” he said.

Briefing about the winter achievements, Itoo said that the directorate set up around 200 winter tutorials which benefitted around 33,000 students during winter.

“I appreciate the heads of the schools who made the initiative successful as they utilised old books available in the schools. In the coming days if we will face any shortage of textbooks in schools, we will use the old textbooks preserved in the schools,” he said. (GK)