Teachers’ Posts Lie Vacant in Kashmir, Students Suffer

A government school in rural Kashmir has been facing a severe shortage of teachers for the past few years. The 250 students who are enrolled in the Hatdu punzu Middle School do not the get the education they are promised. Sajad Rasool reports in today’s video why this might be the case.

”We don’t get taught all the subjects here”, says one student.

It’s not just the students who are fed-up of the situation; a teacher reveals how between just three staff members, they are expected to teach around 40 classes a day. Despite their dedication, it is a schedule that they obviously cannot keep up with.

Added to this is the apathy of the Zonal Education Officer who cannot be bothered to provide the school with the much-needed teachers. The present teacher-student ratio in the middle school is around one teacher for every 80 students. According to the Right to Education Act 2009 it should be around one teacher for every thirty.

The 2011 Census reveals that many parts of Jammu and Kashmir have been able to push up their literacy levels to 68% as opposed to 55% ten years ago. However there are still some areas like Budgam that lag behind.

A few days ago an IndiaUnheard Community Correspondent from Jharkhand shared a similar story. The RTE, which is a landmark judgement for India in terms of it’s potential to educate millions of children is clearly falling short of being able to keep the promises it makes.

- Kayonaaz Kalyanwala

Sajad Rasool
I am a Kashmiri muslim from Badgam. Kashmir Valley has been witnessing Violence from almost 23 years, Kashmir once known as the Paradise on the Eartg has become a land of Miseries and Sufferings. Every street has witnessed blood of innocents, every youth has faced tortures and violence. I call Kashmir the land of Widows, Orphans, forced disappearences and Land of Pain. Here are Hundreds of stories which are untold yet, media has always neglected these stories. No doubt Kashmir has a lot of natural ressources, yet a big part of Kashmir is underdeveloped. Lots of people have no electricity. Out of the total power Kashmir produces only 13% is distributed in Kashmir, the rest goes to other states. You will not hear the media talking about this sort of deprivation. I am a mainstream journalist, and a Right to Information activist. So, I am very aware of all the stories of corruption, and inequalities. But I cannot write about them, because media is biased, and highly commercialized. The stories from communities which suffer from war and violence are neglected. therefore I decided to become a Community Correspondent. I think this is the best platform for me to highlight the untold and uncovered issues in my community. Community media can make journalism meaningful.

Sajad Rasool has produced 26 stories for us.

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