BJP MLA says students suffering due to vacancies
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 9: In what could be a good news for the youth of Jammu and Kashmir aspiring to be teachers, the Government today announced in the Legislative Assembly that posts of teachers freezed in 2018 are likely to be defreezed for fresh appointments to further streamline education system.
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The announcement was made by Education Minister Sakina Itoo in the House in response to a question of BJP MLA from Udhampur West Pawan Gupta, a former Minister.
“There are vacancies of teachers in some areas. We are engaging CRCs. Posts of the teachers were freezed in 2018 and, therefore, the teachers can’t be appointed directly, under SRO or through the Recruitment Board. However, we are trying to defreeze the posts so that new teachers are appointed and good education is given to the children,” the Education Minister said.
Gupta said if the ban on appointment of teachers was imposed during the Governor’s rule, the present Government is fully competent to revoke the ban, defreeze posts and hold recruitment as Education is solely the subject of the UT Government.
“There are over 1800 posts of teachers vacant in Udhampur district alone which is affecting academic standards of children,” Gupta said.
Sakina, however, said the vacancies are less as per teacher-student ration and some of the posts are being filled through promotion quota. Advertisements have also been issued for engagements of CRCs. The Government is serious about giving good education to the students, she added.
However, her reply on online classes was countered by Gupta who said when there is no internet in the hilly areas and no Principal in the schools, how online classes can be run?
BJP MLA from Udhampur East RS Pathania said a new term has been coined i.e. the single teacher school which violates the teacher-student ratio. The subject teachers are also lagging, he added.
The Education Minister said that recruitment of teacher posts was freezed by State Administrative Council decision taken in year 2018 and the Government is actively working to de-freeze these posts so that fresh recruitment is expedited.
She informed the House that 594 posts of Lecturers in 27 disciplines have been referred to JKPSC, besides 727 non-teaching and 43 posts of MTS have been referred to Finance Department for revival/concurrence.
Regarding filling up of vacant posts of Teachers, she apprised that all these posts have been frozen for transition of RRETs, Teacher Grade II/III to clear the salary issue of teachers who were engaged under SSA.
The Education Minister also said that in 2025-2026, a total of 258 Senior Lecturers have been elevated as in-charge Principals besides 56 PG Masters/Teachers have been elevated as in-charge Lecturers. She added that 551 PG Masters/Teachers were placed as in-charge Headmasters and a proposal for placement of more than 500 additional Masters as Headmasters is currently under process in the department.
The Minister said that 80 Headmasters were elevated as in-charge Zonal Education Officers. In non-gazetted cadre, she said that 1170 Teachers have been elevated as Masters in 2025-26.
Regarding Udhampur district, the Education Minister said that 42 positions of Principals out of 43, 8 posts of ZEOs out of 11 and 243 posts of lecturers out of 538 have been filled in the district. She added that engagement of CRCs as well as rationalization of staff is under process to overcome shortage of staff in schools across J&K.
The Minister further said that the Pupil Teacher Ratio in respect of Schools of Udhampur West constituency is 1:16, which shows sufficient staff is available as per enrolment. She added that for academic quality enhancement subject specific teachers, CRCs, online classes are being arranged.
Sakina attributed the improved performance of Jammu Division in the 10th and 12th board exams to the Government’s initiatives, saying these efforts have led to a notable academic upswing, with results surpassing those of previous years.
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