Govt seeks details of dummy schools

Srinagar, Aug 4: The School Education Department (SED) has sought details of all dummy schools across Jammu and Kashmir. The Director School Education (DSE) of Jammu and Kashmir division has been asked to furnish the details within a one week time.

The details have been sought ahead of a review meeting to be chaired by J&K Chief Secretary with Samagra Shiksha on August 5 of 2024.

As per the official document, the issue of dummy schools was discussed in a meeting chaired by Principal Secretary SED Alok Kumar on July 31 of 2024.

An official said the dummy schools were those educational institutions which were closed by the SED for having meager or zero enrollment of schools.

"These schools were opened in violation of norms and could not attract any student for admission which forced the authorities to merge these schools with nearby schools a few years ago. Recently, these schools were officially closed and removed from UDISE data as well," the official said.

He said over 4400 schools were closed by the government which included the majority of primary schools besides 167 middle schools mostly in Jammu division.

"Poonch district topped the list of closed schools followed by Baramulla district and Anantnag district. The primary and middle schools were haphazardly spread in these three districts. Schools were closed in other districts as well but these three districts had a lot of mess," the official said.

The official informed Greater Kashmir that the decrease in the enrollment as recently pointed out by the Ministry of Education (MoE) exposed the cross (dual) attendance of students.

"Earlier, the teachers had enrolled the same student in more than one school due to which the number of students was shown high. But with the updation of the Aadhar based details of students, each student was shown enrolled in only one school," the official said.

Besides dummy schools, the meeting will discuss all other issues including functioning of KGBVs as day schools in various districts besides functioning of girls hostels and expansion of the PM Shri schools.

"One of the agendas of the meeting is to review the progress of construction works from 2017-18 till date," the official said.

The official said earlier on July 31, the Principal Secretary during a review meeting sought attachment details of RReTs, General Line Teachers besides other staff along with their orders of attachments issued by various authorities from time to time.

"The details should be furnished within a period of one week and all Chief Education Officers shall submit an undertaking in this regard," the official document reads.

The Principal Secretary SED Alok Kumar has also issued directions to withhold salary of all RReT teachers not working at their respective place of postings. "The action in this regard should be taken by DSE Kashmir and Jammu division," the document reads.

The meeting chaired by Principal Secretary SED has also discussed the issue about the verification of PG degrees of those incumbents falling under consideration zone for placement and promotion in light of Government order number 940 of 2017 along with the affidavits.

During the meeting, both the directors were asked to submit the details of coaching centres and study centres in conformity with the guidelines of Government of India (GoI).

The DSE of Kashmir and Jammu were asked to issue guidelines at UT level, after conducting inspection of such centres.