Govt schools grapple with lopsided PTR, basic facility shortages

Srinagar, Oct 9: In a distressing development, the lopsided Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) and lack of basic facilities in Government schools remains a persistent issue which is severely impacting the quality of education for schoolchildren.

Despite recent efforts by the School Education Department (SED) to address this problem, many rural schools are still struggling with a shortage of teaching staff and a lack of basic facilities.

While some schools have surplus teaching staff, the institutions in rural areas are grappling with significant teacher deficiency which is jeopardizing the academic prospects of the students.

Over the past few years, the Annual Transfer Drive (ATD), aimed at overcoming the alleviating PTR imbalances has failed to deliver the expected results which has left the rural schools understaffed.

The primary and middle schools have become the worst victims of the official neglect as the government has failed to provide adequate teachers to these schools. Given the non availability of the teachers, the student population is witnessing a declining trend in these schools.

This decline in student enrollment poses a significant challenge for the government, which actively promotes annual enrollment drives to boost student numbers across all schools.

Besides the dearth of teachers, the educational institutions are facing major challenges due to non availability of basic facilities for the students including the four walls of the classrooms.

The schools face basic infrastructure challenges, including a lack of toilet facilities and the students are forced to go under open sky in most of the institutions.

The situation in city schools is no different from rural schools as most of the schools in Srinagar city have lopsided PTR which has thrown up a major challenge for the authorities in the School Education Department.

The issue has taken a toll on the academic progress of students.

As per the official figures, the problem persists mostly in primary and middle schools of Srinagar where the dearth of teaching staff forces teachers to conduct combined classes, raising questions over the quality of education imparted to the school children.

As per the official figures, most of the primary and middle schools in Srinagar are facing dearth of teachers despite the passage of over half of the academic session.

The students in these teacher-deficient schools have been left at the receiving end, while the School Education Department (SED) is still struggling to devise strategies to address the imbalance in the PTR in the schools.

As per the official figures, the schools which are located in the outskirts or at the end point of the city are facing a dearth of teaching staff while the schools located within the city centre or at easily accessible places are overcrowded with surplus teaching staff.

An official said the arrangement has been done to accommodate some influential teachers at the cost of the students enrolled in schools which are located at a distance from the city centre.

Primary school Khonmoh Chek has 122 students and the department has posted only three teachers in the school and Girls Middle school Khanmoh has again only three teachers for 118 students.

The official record reveals that middle school Monawarabad has 12 teachers for 50 students and Boys Middle School Jawahar Nagar has 47 teachers for 126 students.

"Such arrangement of teachers in schools defeats the purpose of maintaining proper PTR in schools. The PTR in city schools is completely against the norms put in place by the Ministry of Education (MoE)," the official said.

The lopsided PTR exists in schools despite the hectic efforts made by the department to streamline ratio in schools. Over the years, the department has taken many initiatives to streamline the PTR in schools by way of rationalisation of the staff.

"But the problem still persists in many schools particularly in the city," the official said.