Focus to be on development, not transfers: Education Minister

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 28

Education Minister Naeem Akhter today spelled out a new education policy for the state and said his focus would be on development and education and not on transfers.

Addressing a press conference here this afternoon, Akhter said, “We have been raising issues of building infrastructure and other secondary things but never have been able to use this humungous infrastructure to educate children.”

Giving details about schools in the state, the minister said there was a network of 24,265 schools in the state having enrolment of 16.68 lakh. “Out of this, there are 146 schools in the state where enrolment is zero. There are 5,151 schools in the state where enrolment is between one and 20.”

As per the 2011 Census, the state has 2.01 lakh children below six years and 12.56 lakh children in the age group of 6 to 18 years. The dropout percentage of students in the state is higher than that of national average. From Classes V to VII, the dropout percentage in the state is 6.24 per cent whereas from Classes VIII to IX, the dropout percentage is 5.24 against the national dropout percentage of 4.67 per cent and 3.13 per cent, respectively.

“What we need is to rationalise the education system and place teachers wherever they are required. Our aim is to achieve 100 per cent literacy rate and compete with the best in the country,” Akhter said.

The minister also spoke in length about the new transfer policy where rational approach would be adopted. To improve the quality of education in the state, the government has decided to take four schools, two each in Srinagar and Jammu, as models and experiment the new policy in these schools.