Number of schools to be further curtailed, enrollment reduces to nil in 119 institutes
Srinagar, Jan 19: The misutilisation of the resources in the J&K School Education Department (SED) has once again come to fore as the student population — as per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2023-24 –- has reduced to nil in 119 schools, leaving services of over 200 teachers unutilised.
A top official said the schools with zero enrollment include both government run as well as private educational institutions established across J&K. He said the UDISE 2024-25 report was yet to be closed but the documentation has reflected that the enrollment in 119 schools has reduced to zero in J&K.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Deputy Director Samagra Shiksha, Bilal Ahmad Mir said the schools with zero enrollment might be those educational institutions, which may have not been enlisted when the government officially merged all the clubbed schools in 2023.
As already reported, the J&K government in 2015-16 clubbed around 2,400 schools for having low or zero enrollment in schools which was followed by another exercise in 2023 when the SED officially merged 4,393 schools and officially removed these schools from UDISE data as well.
"In 2015, schools were only clubbed but the number of these schools was not removed from UDISE and the number of schools as reflected on UDISE was 23,117 government run schools," Mir told Greater Kashmir.
Another official said that in 2023, the department observed that reflecting clubbed schools as independent schools on UDISE was affecting the Performance Grading Index (PGI) score of the J&K's education department.
"The grading was done as per the number of schools reflected on UDISE (23117 schools) while taking into consideration other parameters including enrollment, availability of toilets, playground and other facilities available in these schools," the official said.
He said in wake of these issues, the government officially merged these schools to reflect the actual number of schools functional in Jammu and Kashmir.
Zero Enrolment Schools
As per the latest UDISE 2023-24 data, J&K has 24,241 schools including 18,724 government run schools and 5,517 private schools. The official said the 119 schools with zero enrollment were identified after taking a report from concerned Chief Education Officers (CEOs).
"The schools with zero enrolment exist mostly in Srinagar and Jammu city besides the other towns located adjacent to these cities. As per the UDISE 2024-2025 will be completed, the number of schools with zero enrollment will further increase," the official said. The official said the schools with zero enrollment include some private schools as well.
As already reported, the Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) has claimed that over 200 schools have faced closure in the last few years.
Meanwhile, in the case of government schools, an official said the zero enrollment of students in schools came to fore after it was revealed that some students were enrolled in more than one school.
"Since the introduction of Aadhar and Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) ID of students, it came to fore that some students were enrolled in more than one school and attendance was managed by proxy. But the new e-initiative has discouraged the practice and the enrollment of students in dozens of schools has reduced to zero," the official said.
A top official said that J&K was no exception in this case as it has been revealed that the situation in other states was the same.
"We recently attended a meeting at national level, and it has come to fore that schools in other states are also facing decrease in student enrollment," the official added.