Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 28: Alleging breakdown of educational system particularly in the remote and far-flung areas, NPP chairman and former Education Minister Harsh Dev Singh today called upon the Govt to take appropriate measures to save the careers of rural students who had been suffering immensely especially during the last two years of corona pandemic.
He said that while the Govt was claiming to run online classes for such schools as well, the factual position was altogether different. While several rural areas did not have proper internet facilities and even noble towers for online studies, a vast majority of rural area schools were facing chronic deficiency of teaching staff. And therefore, even if mobile internet connectivity was available in some of the remote areas, the deficiency of teaching faculty had become the major stumbling block in the educational pursuits of the said students. It was shocking however that, rather than coping with staff shortage, the Govt had imposed a blanket ban on appointment of teachers for next few years, regretted Singh.
Seeking the revival of RET scheme, Singh argued that it was the only way out to meet the staff requirements of rural area schools. Localized selections on merit basis had earned widespread applause from far-flung areas as they not only provided opportunity of employment to rural youth but had also ensured the operationalization of several defunct schools in such difficult areas. But with the Govt announcing dis-continuance of the said RET policy, it was the rural education that received the biggest jolt. Non initiation of appropriate measures therefore could cause irreparable loss to the academic interests of such students and jeopardize their careers, Singh asserted.
Seeking the intervention of Lt Governor, Singh called for immediate provision of adequate staff for educational institutions in rural areas and reversion to the time tested policy of RET for stemming the rot. He called for immediate release of selection list of RETs whose panels had been prepared and approved after 2014 but kept pending for the last 8 years.
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