Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 25: An emergency meeting of the Central Executive Body of the Jammu Kashmir Teachers Forum (JKTF) was held at its head office in Jammu under the patronage of its Chief Patron, Ganesh Khajuria.
The forum expressed serious concern over the functioning of the School Education Department in the J&K UT and alleged that sincere and dedicated officers are being ignored and punished for performing their duties honestly.
The members strongly criticised the recent suspension of Chief Education Officer Bandipora, Balbir Kumar, stating that he had only tried to implement Government orders regarding detachment of teaching staff and their deployment at their original places of posting.
The forum termed the action as unfortunate and said it sends a wrong message to officers who work with honesty and commitment.
The speakers alleged that a large number of teachers have been attached to schools of their choice under the pretext of “utilisation of services,” leading to acute staff shortages in far-off, hilly and border areas.
They claimed that districts like Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Kishtwar, Kathua, Reasi and Udhampur are facing serious shortage of teaching staff, affecting students in Government schools.
The situation, they said, is particularly grim in the Jammu Division where schools in urban areas are overstaffed while rural institutions suffer.
The forum warned the authorities to stop such practices and ensure fair deployment of teachers in the interest of students.
It urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Education Minister Sakeena Itoo to personally intervene, review the matter and take corrective steps to streamline the department.
Among those who attended the meeting included Jamayat Ali Agha, Bharat Bhushan Sharma, Surat Singh Toofani, Gopal Singh, Darshan Sharma, Kuldeep Singh Bandral, PD Singh, Gautam Singh, Kuldeep Verma, Pawan Sharma, Iqvinderpal Singh, Parveen Sharma, Kapil Salgotra, Jatinder Singh, Ravinder Chib, Gurcharan Singh, Ashwani Sharma and others.
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