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Futility of "Sarvashiksha Abhiyan"

Sir,

I am the person who very strongly believes in the first sentence that is contained in the Kothari Commission Report that future of India is shaped in her class rooms. To understand and to execute this sentence, we need a firm and clear philosophy of education, transparent aims, well thought curriculum, excellent methods of teaching and of course dedicated and highly motivated teachers. But alas! a recent nation wide survey reveals that more than 87 percent of teachers consider their jobs as low and inferior. This inferiority complex among the teachers seriously hampers the whole educational process. My seven years teaching experience in various schools made me to say so. The recent statement by Human Resources Development Minister Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi that "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan launched in November 2000 had made significant progress and literacy rate of the country has increased to 66 percent is hollow. What is literacy? Does it really contribute to nation in any sphere and even if it contributes, then elementary education is really enough that it can be a contributing factor to the nation's progress. These are pertinent questions. The answers to these questions are practically not easy. Therefore, distinction must be made between literacy and education. Literate mass may or may not shape the future of the country but educated class does shape the destiny as has been observed by Dr. Kothari in his report.

Through the columns of this esteemed Daily, I suggest the following guidelines to the arm chair educationists, curriculum planners and all those who are concerned with teaching and want to ameliorate the society.

* That immediately increase the salary of teachers to weed out the inferiority complex from the minds of teachers.

* Personality of the students (of far flung areas) must be reformed. Let the children go to good school with good dresses, can be a tie, belt, socks, shoes, shirt and short. Let every male and female of the area were nice white or any other dress and Govt. should provide them the facilities of washerman. Let their be sufficient free beauty saloons for them to look in a better way.

* Let the students watch tailored psychological films so that their confidence is boosted and they can themselves make efforts to change them and live in a better way.

* That Govt. should establish special department whose sole job should be to follow up the efforts mentioned above so that we can assess the outcome.

I am very sure that if education is taken up this way, things will improve overnight.

Yours etc...
Ramesh Sharma
Teacher,
Govt. High School Nud (Samba)

Plea to DGP

Sir,

This letter is with reference to a Division Judge Bench Judgement of Hon'ble High Court wherein the Hon'ble Division Bench of Court upheld that landmark Judgement passed by the Hon'ble T S Doabia in Sudesh Kumari V/s State & ors. By dint of this Judgement the Hon'ble Court declared physical measurement test, provided by Rule 146 of J&K Police Rules, irrelevant for the post of Prosecuting Officer. It was done keeping in view the nature of duties a prosecuting officer is supposed to do.

Petitioners strove very hard to get their petitions disposed of and were quite satisfied after getting the matter decided from D.B.

But it is quite unfortunate, that the State has yet not done anything to redress their grievances even after passing of more than 2 months. The result of petitioners is not declared and the candidates are anxiously waiting for it. Other candidates whose result was declared are about to complete their training from Sher-e-Kashmir Academy, Udhampur.

Through this letter, it is once again requested to Director General of J&K Police that kindly declare our result so that we could know for fate in the exam. and get relieved of this frustration. Delay is creating panic and disappointment amongst the candidates.

Early declaration of the result will mitigate mental pain and frustration of the long waiting candidates.

Yours etc...
Aggrieved Petitioners

Reconsider trifurcation

Sir,

The current political situation in Jammu & Kashmir still remains undecided but does offer an opportunity to reconsider old notions and form new ones. The most important being the one regarding regional aspirations of the people of the three regions of the State. The fight for the CM ship should not be dismissed entirely as hunger for power. It is in fact an extension of the quest for a workable representation of the region from where the candidates hail from.

It became apparent that political gimmicks like the resettlement and autonomy have no takers and the people of the whole State wish to be a part of secular India. Though they want a secular setup yet they do not have faith in any single party. Religion takes a back seat and performance of a political party comes to the forefront. It is noteworthy that irrespective of the party, those candidates came up as winners who had personal credibility and had continually worked in their constituencies. Discrimination with the people of Jammu region came in sharp focus and whole of Ladakh stood united to have a union territory status. The issue of trifurcation of the State become hot and gained momentum. Finally, the political system came to a halt when things were all set to have a Chief Minister from Jammu region as if to reconfirm the importance of regional aspirations and down play the religious angle.

The National Conference, which had unabashedly promoted autonomy and resettlement, lost its popularity to the extent that its chief had to lose his own seat. The BJP with its under performance fared so badly that it almost got wiped out. The Congress did spectacularly well in the Jammu region, though surprisingly as did the PDP in the Valley. The Panther's Party did well for itself. The newly formed RSS backed JSM could hardly gain any political mileage though it succeeded in adding momentum to the issue of trifurcation of J&K. The people of Ladakh stood firmly to their stand and exhibited exemplary political unity while rest of the State managed to dive in an ocean of chaos. What emerges out of this ocean holds almost importance at this point in time.

It becomes clear that each region has separate political aspirations irrespective of caste, creed, colour or religion. The PDP wishes to have a Kashmiri Chief Minister while the Jammu region desires to have a Chief Minister, though a Muslim from its own region. The stand of Ladakh region with its good mix of religions is as clear as it could be. What surfaces up in this churning of events is the aspiration of people to have independence from each other without any hard feelings towards one another. What becomes apparent in this multi-lingual, multiethnic, multi-religious State of Jammu and Kashmir is the desire to trifurcate the State though presently in a little weak manner; weak yes but subconsciously unanimous. It is time to reconsider trifurcation as a serious and only solution to the problems of J&K. It is time for the leaders of various political parties to come together under a common umbrella and move towards the betterment of each region. It is also time for the new leaders to emerge in the down of a new era.

Yours etc...
Mahesh K Sharma
Gandhi Nagar Jammu.