Govt considering de-freezing of teacher posts: Education Minister
JAMMU, Feb 9: Minister for Education Sakeena Itoo apprised the House that both the Cluster Universities of Srinagar and Jammu have been allotted land for construction of their establishments in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Minister said this while replying to a question raised by Legislator Tanvir Sadiq in the Legislative Assembly.
The Minister said that the Cluster University of Srinagar and Jammu were established under the “Srinagar and Jammu Cluster Universities Act, 2016” under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) Scheme by clustering the human and infrastructural resources of five existing City Colleges for each university at Srinagar and Jammu in accordance with the guidelines of RUSA 1.0.
She said that historic and high-performing colleges such as SP College, Women’s College, M.A. Road; Amar Singh College, MAM College, GGM Science College and SPMR College of Commerce were placed under Cluster Universities.
The Minister said that both the universities have developed their independent PG schools with their own faculty. She said that at present, there is no proposal under consideration of the government to affiliate, merge or transfer administrative and asset control of aforesaid colleges of Srinagar and Jammu to Cluster Universities.
The Minister also said that at present, the administrative control of Teaching and Non-teaching Staff of the constituent colleges is with the Higher Education Department.
Legislator Saif-ud-din Bhat raised supplementary question.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Sakeena Itoo informed the Legislative Assembly that the de-freezing of Teacher posts is under active consideration of the government to overcome shortage of teachers in schools across Jammu and Kashmir.
The Minister said this while replying to a question of Legislator Pawan Kumar Gupta, regarding shortage of teaching staff, in the House today.
The Education Minister said that recruitment of teacher posts were freezed by State Administrative Council decision taken in year 2018 and the government is actively working to de-freeze these posts so that fresh recruitment is expedited in the department.
She informed the House that 594 posts of Lecturers in 27 disciplines have been referred to JKPSC, besides 727 non-teaching and 43 posts of MTS have been referred to Finance Department for revival/concurrence.
Regarding filling up of vacant posts of Teachers, she apprised that all these posts have been frozen for transition of RRETs, Teacher Grade II/III to clear the salary issue of Teachers who were engaged under SSA.
The Education Minister also said that in 2025-2026, a total of 258 Senior Lecturers have been elevated as in-charge Principals besides 56 PG Masters/Teachers have been elevated as in-charge Lecturers. She added that 551 PG Masters/Teachers were placed as in-charge Headmasters and a proposal for placement of more than 500 additional Masters as Headmasters is currently under process in the department.
The Minister said that 80 Headmasters were elevated as in-charge Zonal Education Officers. In non-gazetted cadre, she said that 1170 Teachers have been elevated as Masters in 2025-26.
Regarding Udhampur district, the Education Minister said that 42 positions of Principals out of 43, 8 posts of ZEOs out of 11 and 243 posts of lecturers out of 538 have been filled in the district. She added that engagement of CRCs as well as rationalisation of staff is under process to overcome shortage of staff in schools across J&K.
The Minister further said that the Pupil Teacher Ratio in respect of Schools of Udhampur West constituency is 1:16, which shows sufficient staff is available as per enrolment. She added that for academic quality enhancement subject specific teachers, CRCs, online classes are being arranged.
The Minister attributed the improved performance of Jammu Division in the 10th and 12th board exams to the government’s initiatives, saying these efforts have led to a notable academic upswing, with results surpassing those of previous years.
Legislator Ranbir Singh Pathania raised supplementary question.
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