New Plans, Old Liabilities

The school education department has set a target to complete the ongoing construction of the model schools besides taking up other developmental works in order to fix the infrastructural gaps in the educational institutions.

Also, the Higher Education Sector is also expected to have a complete transformation during the current financial year as the government is planning to establish modern science laboratory blocks in 10 colleges besides converting 1200 traditional classrooms into IT enabled classrooms. The automation of all libraries is also expected to be taken up by the government in the colleges.

All these targets have been documented and presented in the annual budget of the school and higher education department of J&K Union Territory. To complete these targets, the J&K government has allocated an amount of Rs 1873 crore by giving a hike to the annual allocation by Rs 5.23 crore as compared to previous year’s budget.

If one goes by the contents of the budget document prepared by the J&K government then the education department is expected to clear all the previous liabilities and fix the infrastructural gaps in the educational institutions.

The government has set a target to complete the construction on 40 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) buildings worth Rs.43.33 crore besides establishing 723 ICT laboratories in the high and higher secondary schools at a cost of Rs.46.27 crore. Also, 38 girls’ hostels are coming up worth Rs 114 crore as well for students.

On papers it seems that the government is all set to level its previous liabilities and also come up with new infrastructural facilities for the students in schools and colleges but the government has a history of achieving its targets on papers only.

The government is claiming to transform traditional classrooms into smart classrooms but the fact is that most of the colleges and schools lack basic infrastructure.

Over a dozen of old colleges are without permanent campuses and are functioning from makeshift arrangements. Same is the case with schools wherein teachers take combined classes of students due to the dearth of accommodation.

Recently, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) censured the School Education Department for its failure to establish the model schools at block level saying that it deprived the school children from receiving quality education.

The CAG maintained that the failure of the government to set up model schools led to non-utilisation of funds to the tune of Rs 44.13 crores.

The erstwhile state government in 2015 ordered for establishment of model schools across J&K with an aim to make education participatory and ensure holistic personality development of students.

But six years later, the order is yet to be rolled out even as the government had revised the original policy and brought down the number of schools to be covered under the much-hyped initiative.

The government had identified 154 government higher secondary schools – 77 each in Kashmir and Jammu divisions – for their up gradation as model schools. But the scheme hit a roadblock owing to financial crunch.

The government only changed the signboards of some higher secondary schools as “model schools” to “cover up its failure”.

Basically, the scheme of establishing model schools was launched by the Department of School Education and Literacy in the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India in November 2008 with an objective to have at least one good quality secondary model school in every Educationally Backward Block (EBB). But till date no such schools have come up in J&K which has these facets to be termed as a model school.

The situation in government degree colleges is no more different than schools. The government in 2010 announced the establishment of several colleges in J&K under centrally sponsored schemes. Some of these colleges are yet to have a permanent campus not to talk of having IT enabled smart classrooms.

Also, none of the newly established 50 Degree Colleges in J&K has got a permanent campus in the last two years when the colleges were announced by the government.

The ground situation in higher education as well as school education is very grim in terms of the infrastructure but the government is making tall claims to fix the infrastructural gaps in the education sector. But these targets seem to be unachievable by the government given our past experiences. The department should clear the liabilities of all previous years and take up new projects to fix the infrastructural gaps in the schools.

The government has claimed to set up Student’s Skill Centers in all the degree colleges and 10000 students will be training under Skill Enhancement Training (SET) Scheme.

While the government has set huge targets, worth crores, for upgrading infrastructure in educational institutions for the current financial year, focus should be on the pending liabilities which accumulated for almost a decade now. The government should expedite the execution work in order to complete new as well as previous projects which have been left mid-way.

The new targets should not meet the same fate as that of the previous ones – incomplete for years together.

The J&K government should ensure that all the previous school and college buildings are completed and students get proper accommodation; and other requisite facilities in the institutions. The government should do away with the practice of making the schools and colleges functional from makeshift arrangements.