Khag Zone of Budgam without ZEO, ZEPO; HSS without principal

Srinagar, May 30: The education sector in education zone Khag of Budgam district is crumbling due to the dearth of teaching staff in schools, taking a toll on the academics of the students.

Besides, the key position of Zonal Education Officer (ZEO) and Zonal Education Planning Officer (ZEPO) are lying vacant as well. The non-availability of the two officers in the education zone has made it difficult to run the daily affairs in the zone.

In absence of the ZEO, there is no regular inspection of the schools in Khag education zone due to which the condition of the elementary level schools goes unnoticed in the zone. Notably, Khag education zone has over 100 government schools including six high schools and two higher secondary schools with an enrolment of around 4700 students.

But the dearth of teaching staff besides vacancy of key administrative positions has severely affected the functioning and supervision of schools in the area. Adding to the crisis, out of the two higher secondary schools in Khag, one is without a permanent principal.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, a group of teachers from Khag zone expressed concern about the present situation of schools in Khag zone. "Our schools are overlooked by the department. Being a remote area, the population here is mostly dependent on government schools but this zone is left on crutches," the teachers said.

The teachers said the available teaching staff in schools remain overburdened due to the workload of classes. "The students suffer here due to inadequate staff available here. Most of the qualified teaching faculty have been shifted from Khag zone schools and adjusted in other zones," the teachers said.

The teachers urged the Administrative Department and the Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) for their intervention into the matter. "The vacant post of ZEO and ZEPO must be filled as early as possible while the understaffed schools should be provided adequate teachers on the basis of the enrolment of the students," the teachers said.

While DSEK G N Itoo was not available for his comments on the issue, a top official in the School Education Department (SED) said the department was already working to fill the vacant positions of ZEOs and other administrative posts. "Several posts have been already filled while the process is going on to place permanent ZEOs in all the zones. The dearth of teaching staff will also be addressed soon," the official told Greater Kashmir.