AR Bhat
Education is one of the important transformation and effective input for nation building. It is closely related to various aspects of human life and environment. It is the process through which the society deliberately transmits its cultural heritage, its accumulated knowledge, values and skills from one generation to other generation. Education is the major aspect of development of any society, if there is a deficit of educated people then society will stop its further progress. It is generally seen as the foundation of society which brings economic wealth, social prosperity and political stability. Education has contributed to the destiny of the societies in each and every area of development. Thus, it is considered as a powerful instrument to bring any type of change. The education system in Jammu and Kashmir is not in a good condition and has become failure to a large extent on the part of authorities, teachers, students and society. The education system is not progressing at a pace when compared to other Indian states. Faulty education system has created a lot of problems affecting the students and society at large.
Education in Jammu and Kashmir is free up to university stage, the education in Kashmir up to secondary level is the responsibility of Jammu and Kashmir board of school education and CBSE, whereas department of higher education has the responsibility of higher education. There are more than 14000 schools for primary, elementary, secondary and senior secondary education. Jammu and Kashmir has more than 140 colleges and 12 universities. There are two central universities, two deemed to be universities and eight state universities in Jammu and Kashmir. At present, Jammu and Kashmir has 8 medical colleges, 7 engineering colleges, 3 law colleges, 4 research institutes and 7 institutes of national importance. Even after having so many prominent institutions the educational status of Jammu and Kashmir is not that well. The educational facilities of urban areas are good as compared to rural and backward areas. There is gender disparity in the enrolment rate. Hence, female literacy is very low as compared to male literacy rate. The education system is not progressing at pace when compared to other Indian states. Faulty education system has created a lot of problems affecting the students and society. In the national educational scenario, J&K is subsumed as educationally backward with reference to the established indices namely, literacy rate, teacher-pupil ratio, drop-out rate and the absorption pattern of the educated persons. The government of India has identified 374 districts as educationally backward out of which 11 districts are in Jammu and Kashmir. The situation of education in J&K is witnessing decline. The government has taken many initiatives to improve the quality of education and to increase the literacy rate in Jammu and Kashmir. The schemes have been to implemented to enhance the quality of education and increase the accessibility of the students are Mid-day Meal, Shagun Shiksha, Inclusive education of the Disabled at secondary stage (IEDSS) and Diksha.
Jammu and Kashmir is facing so many challenges and hurdles in education system. One of the major problems of education in Jammu and Kashmir is political uncertainty. Mostly educational institutions remain shut which spoils the future of students and education system. A long break due to political situation is another major problem that affects the education system badly. Researchers have revealed that breaks in education cause many psychological problems among students as well as affects their academic performance negatively. Poor infrastructure in educational institutions especially the institutions run by the public sector suffer from poor physical facilities and infrastructure like unavailability of clean drinking water, lack of toilet facilities for students, inadequate classrooms etc.
Lack of trained and subject specific teachers in schools especially in government schools. Educational institutions receive inadequate government funding. Insufficient amount is available for innovative ideas and programs. There is less focus on quality research in higher education. There are limited facilities and resources as well as insufficient numbers of quality teachers to advise students. Other problems and issues are student drop-out ratio, student-teacher ratio, disparities between girls and boys and low enrolment at the primary level.
Suggestions for improving education system in Jammu and Kashmir are build a high-quality education system, adequate funding must be made available by the government to improve quality and making education affordable to all. Appropriate pupil teacher ratio should be maintained for the smooth functioning of teaching learning process. More schools and colleges should be established in rural and backward areas to make education accessible to all. Quality knowledge should be imparted to the students. Students should be encouraged to go for research activities. Government should start skill based vocational courses in educational institutions. Curriculum of all courses offered at various levels should be revised and updated to make it competitive and engaging and make the students confident, self-dependent and skilful. Special training programmes should be organized for teachers in order to keep them updated with recent happenings. Separate technical and research colleges should be established for girls in order to increase their participation in education. The utilization of funds for rural development scheme in the state should be increased. Infrastructure should be expanded and well developed for the betterment of education.
Jammu and Kashmir is subsumed as educationally backward in the national education scenario. The continuous closure of educational institutions and the long breaks in education caused by political situation is one of the recurring problems in Jammu and Kashmir. In order to tackle with these problems government must adopt alternative methods to improve the education system. E-learning must be encouraged at all levels to mitigate the loss caused by the political situation. In order to successfully meet the future challenges in education, the government must give prime importance to education sector and provide as many facilities as possible.
