Dr. Kavita Suri
Few months ago, an independent J&K MLA Engineer Rashid was splashed in news everywhere though not for the political reasons. This MLA representing the constituency of Langate in North Kashmir had gone to a school at Dard Haji Rajwar area and had started taking class as not even a single teacher was on duty. Similarly, few months earlier, the then Education minister Naeem Akhter had also gone to a government-run school in South Kashmir’s Tral area and had started taking classes. These incidents are enough to throw light on the fact that all is not well with the school education system in our state and the problem is serious. This further gets aggravated when one sees the state of educational infrastructure in Government schools in J&K.
Rural education and rural infrastructure in the schools is very important keeping in view the fact that majority of the people of the state (72.62 %) still live in rural areas and as rural areas do not have many private schools, people still are dependent on the rural schools for education. The literacy rate in J&K is 68.74% while in rural areas (excluding 0-6 Population), it is 63.18 %. Poor school infrastructure is also one of the many reasons for the low literacy rates in the rural areas of the border state. Several surveys and reports have shown that there are several issues in the elementary education in the rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir including poor school infrastructure. Majority of the schools in villages lack proper infrastructural facilities. Students are made to sit on the floor due to non availability of furniture besides other issues including toilets, washrooms, play grounds, furniture, libraries etc.
The J&K Economic Survey 2014-2015 shows that the number of dilapidated schools across Jammu and Kashmir doubled in just one year from 474 to 948. Many Government schools run out of rented buildings, often in dilapidated shape. Poor infrastructure continues to mar the performance of government schools. A report states that out of 1,423 schools in Kupwara district, only 87 are electrified while in Baramulla district, the number is 681 out of 1,458 schools.
Inadequate infrastructure in schools is a big barrier to enrollment and participation. The over-crowded spaces lacking in adequate sanitary facilities and lacking water for hygiene not only result in dropouts but also have health implications. Girls in particular are pushed out of school if facilities are inadequate. People living in rural areas do realize the importance of education but poverty does not allow them to send their children to private schools and hence they are left with no choice but to remain dependent upon government schools only.
According to a survey by Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), only 6 out of every 10 schools in the country have access to electricity. State-level data throws up an even grimmer picture-one-third of states do not provide electricity to the majority of their schools. The data says that Jammu and Kashmir has a total of 29,047 schools, of which 21,381 schools have no electricity. This survey carried out in the year 2014-2015 in 7,262 villages of the state reveals that 2,667 schools operate without water facilities, 6,351 schools don’t have toilet facility for girls in the schools that have a total of 1,09,692 girls enrolled from 1-8th standard and 4862 girls in 9-12th category. A total of 6,636 women are working in these schools as employees. The data says that 39 schools in J&K are running without proper buildings and 38 schools without classrooms.
A Baseline Survey of Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation shows that Jammu and Kashmir is among the worst States with poor sanitation. The report says that out of 20.5 million households in the state, more than 54 per cent are without toilets. The survey states that J&K is only ahead of Odisha and Bihar. Last year, the Jammu & Kashmir High Court had expressed dissatisfaction over the Government’s status report on various facilities made available in schools. These Governments school are still lacking basic facilities like electricity, computers, playgrounds, toilets etc.
Under the Centrally sponsored scheme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), which is a campaign for universalization of elementary education launched in the year 2002 in J&K, there is a policy of providing primary school within a radius of one km. However the distance norm has been relaxed by the State from 1 km to 0.5 km in the habitations located on hill slopes, small habitation cut off by Nallah / Streams from the habitation having schooling facility, habitations separated by National Highway/ Busy Road, habitations located in forest area. However, cconstruction of school buildings in J&K State is one of the most challenging tasks as the state has varied topography, harsh climatic conditions, inaccessible and far flung areas. Besides, the September 2014 floods in J&K caused also damage to the tune of Rs 64 crore to the school infrastructure in Jammu region, where nearly 1,400 schools have been damaged. The number of fully damaged and partially damaged schools in the entire Jammu division is 191 and 1,307 respectively. This flood damaged lot of buildings fully and partially.
Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), computer-aided learning has been implemented in only 5.62 percent of upper primary schools, and information and communication technology (ICT) – a component approved under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan- has been implemented in only 229 (36.5 percent) schools out of 627 schools approved in 2016-17.
In January this year, in a significant development, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development signed an MoU with the J&K Government to improve school education in the State. Under this, the MHRD, for next three years, would extend all sought of assistance to enable the State to improve school education in terms of infrastructure development, teaching learning methodology through extensive capacity development and promote allied activities.
For improving educational standards in the rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir, there is immediate need to address the lack of adequate infrastructure in rural schools. The buildings which need repair badly should be repaired immediately. New buildings should come up and these should have improved sanitary facilities, particularly for girls. Overcrowded classrooms can be reduced by building additional classrooms in existing schools. However, to check the corruption in the civil works in the schools under SSA or RMSA or even State Government projects, community participation should be the only means of undertaking any civil works in improvement of school facilities.
Educational infrastructure has a lot of impact on the educational process and to a lesser extent outlining block to educational disparities. Good infrastructure can play a big role in education for development and increasing literacy rate. The availability of infrastructure elements such as type and conditions of classes, availability of toilets, electricity, library, computers, play a significant role for improving the learning environment. Good infrastructure is truly at the base of quality education and thus stress has to be laid on providing good infrastructural facilities in the schools of rural J&K.
(The writer is Director, Department of Lifelong Learning, University of Jammu & Member, J&K State Commission for women)
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