Education is one area in which the country has been making new experiments. In the aftermath of independence of the country in 1947, it was generally believed that the educational system then prevailing in the country was the legacy of the colonialists. The impression rampant among political and intellectual class was that the entire system was oriented to colonial ideology. It was, therefore, emphasized that indigenization of education was of prime urgency. Educational experts were deployed to propose the shift. Ground reality, revealed to us later on that the desired change was easy to be said than done. Nevertheless, with the passage of time, changes in the curricula were brought in and the change is a continuous process because of advancement in science and technology and the need to adapt to the new order.
In our state, education from lowest to the highest level was made free during the regime of Bakhshi Ghulam Muhamamd. This decision was taken in view of large scale illiteracy in the State. People welcomed this historic decision and it did bring about transformation in the society. It was soon realized that right to education being a constitutional provision, the government needed to expand it as wide as possible. This asked for huge infrastructural enterprise and providing the staff needed to proceed with the big programme of removing illiteracy.
The fact is that parity has not been maintained between demand and supply. In two areas related to expansion of education, namely infrastructure and teaching cadres, there remains much to be desired. Reports emanating from reliable sources and the media tell us that a large number of schools are run in rented buildings as they have not their own buildings and the department pays more than five lakh rupees a month by way of rent to the owners of these buildings. Secondly, according to a conservative estimate, nearly 15000 budgeted posts of teachers of different levels are lying vacant across the state. Inadequacy in these two areas is one of the major causes of poor performance and highly unsatisfactory results in examinations. School education authorities are unable to explain why 107 schools are not having their own buildings, playgrounds and other infrastructural facilities. They are also unable to explain why a large number of 15000 posts of teachers are lying vacant. After all, these basic issues regarding the education department have to be taken up by the Minister concerned. No school can flourish as long as it is housed in a private building. The government should have a well defined policy of acquiring land through Revenue Department when it is decided to open a school of whatever level in a given locality. In fact there should be a permanent committee empowered to recommend the location, size, structural design, connectivity and related things for a new school. Concerned departmental representatives should be the members of this committee and they can co-opt the people of the concerned locality as advisors. A number of centrally sponsored schemes have been extended to the State and it is the responsibility of educational authorities in the field and at the departmental level to see to it that these schemes are implemented in letter and in spirit. In particular, reference has to be made to the centrally sponsored Rashtriya Madhamik Shikhsha Abhiyan scheme which has the desired potential of changing the complexion of our educational system and in providing necessary infrastructure.
A large number of classrooms in the rented buildings are unsafe and the PWD authorities have already notified the same. But there is sort of carelessness and irresponsibility about the consequences of running schools with unsafe classrooms. The risk involved is not small one. We would advise the Education Department to take both long term and short term steps to bring about drastic change in the existing administrative policy in the department, ensure physical safety of students attending classes run in rented private buildings. The element of vested interests is also reported to be benefiting from the big rent they earn. The last but not the least is the issue of filling up thousands of teachers’ vacancies. Education Department should conduct special recruitment campaign doing away with obsolete and unnecessary practices of recruitment and ensuring that within a short specific time most of the vacant posts are filled.
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