Baramulla, May 10: Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Baramulla, Javid Hassan Baig, on Sunday, expressed concern over the disproportionate Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) in government schools and said that a school in Baramulla has 12 teachers for 16 students.
He said there was a lack of accountability in the system, and the schools were suffering due to irrational teacher deployment in the Baramulla district.
He was speaking at a seminar on the anti-drug campaign, Nasha Mukht Abhiyan, organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Teachers Forum (JKTF) at Dak Bungalow, Baramulla.
MLA Javid Hassan Baig said there were schools in the district with more teachers than students, while many institutions elsewhere remained understaffed.
“In the Baramulla zone, there is a 6:1 ratio of PTR. There are six children for one teacher. One school has 12 teachers for 16 students, but nobody is willing to move where they are actually needed,” MLA Baramulla said.
The MLA said the problem was rooted in administrative failure and the absence of accountability in the education sector.
“In the name of infrastructure, we have built schools where there are no children. There is no accountability in the system,” he said.
Baig further said that the fight against drug abuse could not succeed without broader social and institutional reforms, particularly in education and family structures.
He said moral and social “training” was more important than mere acquisition of knowledge.
“The real issue is not knowledge or technology. The real issue is training,” he said and stressed the role of parents, teachers and religious leaders in shaping children.
Referring to rising drug addiction in J&K, MLA Javid Baig claimed that around 13 lakh people across J&K UT were involved in substance abuse.
“Punitive measures alone would not solve the crisis. You cannot end drugs only through jails and law-and-order measures. Character building is necessary for it,” he said.
The MLA also expressed concern over the unchecked influence of mobile phones and social media on young people.
“People want to save children from drugs, but not from this mobile. This box (Mobile) today contains the world’s filth,” he said.
Baig said that teachers must treat education as a mission rather than a government job and called for empowering educators to rebuild society.
“Teachers should be given confidence and responsibility in shaping society. Tell them (teachers) we have to make Jammu and Kashmir an exemplary state. It will happen within years,” he said.
MLA Baig, however, praised missionary institutions like Saint Joseph’s Higher Secondary School, Baramulla for their historical contribution to education in Kashmir.
“Early schools were founded with a reformative spirit rather than commercial motives. They came from outside and imparted education to the community here,” Baig said.
He however, castigated the teachers for not being ready to move to the places where their services are actually required.
“If you are transferred from main town to the peripheries, you use your influence of forums to cancel the transfer. You are not ready to serve the community where it is actually required,” he said.
He further called for a collective social movement against drug abuse and said the campaign had to involve families, schools, religious institutions and the government alike.
“This war against drugs is not only the government’s responsibility. In every situation, we have to join hands and have to succeed,” he added.
