Stop experimenting with educational policy: Bukhari

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, June 13: Apni Party president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari today expressed serious concern over the irresolute administrative decisions that hamper imparting education in the prevailing pandemic across Jammu and Kashmir.
He said that such vacillating diktats could prove detrimental to the academic or professional endeavors of students in the long run.
In a statement issued here, Bukhari said that unilateral government order restricting the timing of virtual classes was devoid of any logic and will prove counterproductive for the future of students of J&K. “The Government should have consulted all the stakeholders including academicians and educational experts rather than announcing its order that was primarily based on secretarial inputs,” he remarked.
He asked how can half-an-hour or 90-minutes online class prove to be a substitute to a comprehensive day long study in which all subjects are supposed to be taught without any curtailment in the syllabus?
“The reduction in online study hours may be for time being deemed as an act of generosity for our pre-primary and primary class students but ultimately it will make them inept to face the competitive exams in future,” he added.
Bukhari said there is a national level education policy in vogue everywhere in the country and one could hardly see any inconsistency or vacillation in its implementation barring Jammu and Kashmir even during the Pandemic. “The schools could have been asked to adopt a fun based innovative teaching schedule in order to cope up with the stress factors among the students at the formative level,” he opined.
Apni Party chief said that the students like everywhere in the country are at home for the last two years and if not compensated for their educational loss can prove a big burden not only for their parents but the government in general.
Bukhari said the J&K under the bureaucratic regime has been lately witnessing a flip-flop approach in various important sectors and unfortunately the same is now being applied to the education sector also.
“With every passing day new orders and amendments are being incorporated in relation to the education sector resulting in a chaotic situation for students, parents and teachers alike,” he remarked.
He added that any arbitrary and overnight decisions undermine the worth of the government institutions and the administrative set-up should desist from taking decisions that are the prerogative of an elected and representative form of the Government.
“I urge the Lt Governor to revisit his earlier decision and take a thoughtful call to address this grave issue,” Bukhari pleaded.