*ICT remains dream for thousands of students
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 9: Although the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development is repeatedly asking the Jammu and Kashmir Government to speed up electrification of schools, neither the School Education Department nor the Power Development Department are paying serious attention towards the directive. As a result of dilly-dallying approach hundreds of Government schools are still clamoring for power supply despite the fact that such a facility is imperative to provide access of Information and Communication Technology to the students.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan, a scheme of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, thrust is also being laid on electrification of schools besides providing other infrastructure so as to enable the students to have access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which again is the key interest area of the Ministry.
However, the figures of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) paint dismal scenario vis-à-vis electrification of schools in this State. Moreover, Jammu and Kashmir is lagging behind all the adjoining States on this aspect.
There is no un-electrified school in the State of Punjab and Union Territory of Chandigarh while as there are three such schools in hilly State of Himachal Pradesh and 23 in Haryana. Moreover, the number of un-electrified schools in another hilly State of Uttrakhand is 190, which is far less than the number of such schools in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said while quoting the data of the MHRD.
“This also indicates that the excuse of hilly terrain, which is generally flagged as main reason behind slow progress on electrification by the concerned authorities of Jammu and Kashmir, cannot be justified in any way as hilly States of Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh are far ahead of J&K in electrification of schools, sources added.
The MHRD had fixed a target of electrification of 835 schools for the concerned authorities of Jammu and Kashmir under RMSA. Against this, 555 have been electrified till date and 280 are still clamoring for facility of electricity. These 280 schools are situated in both rural and urban areas of the State.
“Out of 280, large number of schools are situated in those areas which are already electrified but the power supply lines have not been extended to the educational institutions”, sources further said while disclosing that under the guidelines of the Government of India, a village can be declared electrified if electricity is provided to public places like schools and health centres.
“What to talk of rural areas even some schools in urban areas of Doda, Kupwara, Srinagar and other districts are still lacking power connection despite availability of electricity in their immediate vicinity thereby exhibiting the non-serious approach of the Power Development Department as well as School Education Department, which should have exerted pressure on the PDD authorities for gearing up of electrification work”, sources said.
The soft-paddling approach towards electrification of schools is prevailing despite the fact that schools lay foundation of future of the country and require conducive and enabling environment including electrification.
“Besides being helpful in ensuring conducive environment in the schools, the electrification is also imperative for use of advanced teaching aids facilitating learning”, sources said, adding “electrification of schools enables the use of modern technology in education such as television, video, projectors and computers, which enhance the quality of education”.
Expressing concern over non-electrification of large number of schools, sources said, “till the power supply is ensured to these schools ensuring access of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to the students and start of Smart Classes will remain a distant dream”.
“As electrification of schools is also linked with electrification of villages, the Power Development Department is required to gear up rural electrification work so that thousands of students are not deprived of benefit of latest technologies in education sector”, sources stressed.
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