Unfilled positions of headmasters, masters hamper functioning of government schools

Srinagar, Jan 11: Scores of the high schools across Kashmir are headless from the past many years which has taken a toll on the overall functioning of these institutions.

An official said the unfilled positions of the headmasters not only hampers the overall functioning of the schools but also takes a toll on the academics of the students.

"The charge of the headmaster is given to the senior most master or the headmaster of another school as his additional assignment. It is not humanly possible for any person to manage two schools simultaneously," the official said.

The official said the vacant positions of headmasters have increased over the past few years due to the retirement of the headmasters and officers working on equivalent ranks.

"The administrative department always collects the details of the vacant positions but the exercise remains confined to only papers. The vacant positions are not filled regularly," the official said. He said the department seeks details of all the retiring teachers, masters, headmasters, lecturers every year but the exercise is never executed on ground to avoid vacancies.

Besides headmasters, scores of Master Grade positions are also lying vacant in high school due to which the academics take a back seat as the school suffers due to non-availability of masters.

"The problem persists mostly in those schools which were upgraded under erstwhile RMSA scheme where in the schools were upgraded from middle to high school level or from high school to higher secondary level," the official said.

The official said that the department created few positions of the masters along with the non teaching posts in the schools upgraded under RMSA scheme. "Unfortunately, the department later did not post any non-teaching staff in these schools and also kept the Master posts vacant as well," the official said. He said the vacancies have overburdened the available staff in these schools who manage the teaching as well as non-teaching assignments in the schools. "Apart from teaching for the whole day as per the scheduled time table, the available teachers manage the admission record, school record and other files pertaining to finance. It becomes so tedious for the teachers to run the school affairs," the official said. A top official said the department was aware of the issue and measures are being taken to fill all the vacant positions of the heads of the schools. "Besides high schools, few higher secondary schools are also without Principals. The department is actively working on it and all the vacant positions will be filled soon," the official said.