1330 schools in JK with 31,000 enrolment run by ‘single teachers’

By: Riyaz Bhat

Srinagar: In Jammu and Kashmir more than 31,000 students are enrolled in those schools that function with a single teacher posted or deployed—thus raising a question on quality of the education in educational institutes.

The updated official figures reveal that In Jammu and Kashmir, ‘31,054 students were enrolled’ in those educational institutes wherein only one teacher was posted or deployed.

According to the recent official figures, more than 1300 schools in Jammu and Kashmir were those institutes that were functioning with only a single teacher.

The news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) has learnt that “At least 1330 schools in Jammu and Kashmir were functioning with single teachers.”

Principal Secretary, School Education Department was not available to comment on the issue. Besides, Project Director of Jammu and Kashmir Samagra Shiksha could not answer the repeated calls from KNO.

President of Private School Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) G N Var informed KNO that “In more than 5400 private schools in Jammu and Kashmir, we have a Pupil Teacher Ratio of 1:20. Besides, in every school, we have a minimum of seven teachers in each private school.”

On asking about the closure of any private schools owing to low or zero student enrolment, Var said, “Right from the very inception, not even a single private school has remained with zero student enrolment. However, because of government restriction, intimidation and harassment by way of imposing filing of NOCs and other documents, some private schools may have got closed due to the government restriction.”

On Saturday, KNO reported that the updated official figures reveal that in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 119 schools were functioning in the region with no student enrolled in the institution.

The figures have revealed that at least 238 teachers were posted or deployed in the schools wherein no student was enrolled.

It also states that on an average at least seven teachers were posted or deployed in schools of Jammu and Kashmir.

In 2024, KNO first broke the news of closure of over 4400 government run schools owing to ‘zero or extremely low’ enrollment of students.

In July-2024, the news agency reported that there were a total of 23,117 government run schools in Jammu and Kashmir out of which 4394 have been deleted from the UDISE data. —(KNO)