Staff shortage in govt schools: 258 headmaster posts lying vacant

Srinagar, March 29: Since the new academic session has started, most of the government schools in the valley are working amid the staff shortage while some of them are headless, compromising on the functioning of the schools.
Teachers said that the schools especially in the far off areas have been neglected by the officials due to which schools are running without heads.
Official details revealed that 258 headmaster’s posts are still lying vacant in various schools of Kashmir. 37 posts are lying vacant for the post of principal of Higher secondary schools.
A teacher said, “Far flung areas are neglected by the government and the teachers appointed in such zones use political corridors to change their posting to desirable places. In far off areas, the students from unprivileged classes prefer to go to government schools for studies but unfortunately, they are the ones who become the victim of official negligence,” he said.
He further said that the schools in the remote areas of Uri, Boniyar etc. have been facing staff storage for a long time.
Teachers said that the reason behind insufficient staff in the schools is the government’s failure to clear the pending promotions for the last many years. “Pending promotions has been withheld due to the number of positions lying vacant in the government run educational institutions,” he said.
The teachers further said, “The consideration list of graduate/post graduate teachers for the promotions as masters has been released by the department many times to verify the documents. We have been submitting our documents but still nothing is happening on the ground.”
Few days back, while talking to media, Director School Education, Kashmir Dr. Tasaduq Hussain said that an annual transfer drive will be launched by or before April in which the staff will be posted in the schools as per the set protocol in the soft, hard and very hard zones.
Rouf Rehman, Joint Director said that the promotions are happening in the department smoothly. He said. “From the month of April, we are going for an Annual Transfer Drive. where we will see the promotions and vacancies. Also, the retirements will be taken into consideration.”
He further said that the department has 25 thousand government schools working in Jammu and Kashmir. “This department has a huge establishment. Schools in far-flung areas are functioning properly even if there are few students enrolled, catering to the needs of the minorities,” he said.