Government cancels teacher deployments to streamline PTR in schools

The chief secretary, as per the official document, has asked SED to ensure quality education was imparted to the students in government schools.

Srinagar: The government has ordered the cancellation of all deployment of teachers to streamline the lopsided Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) in government schools.

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary (CS) Arun Kumar Mehta to review the functioning of the School Education Department (SED).

The chief secretary, as per the official document, has asked SED to ensure quality education was imparted to the students in government schools.

The initiative has been taken given the reopening of schools and owing to the dearth of teaching staff in government schools located in far-off areas.

The department is facing a shortfall of teachers in rural schools owing to the deployment of teachers in other departments where they are assigned non-teaching assignments.

Principal Secretary SED Bishwajit Kumar Singh told Greater Kashmir that the dearth of teachers in rural schools tells upon the performance of the students in annual board exams.

In wake of the government directions, Deputy Commissioner Baramulla on Thursday issued circular instructions to the district education authorities to shift the teachers to their substantial positions to maintain PTR in schools.

“Given the government directions issued from time to time, it has become imperative to ensure detachment of teachers to their substantial positions,” a circular issued by DC Baramulla reads.

Referring to the government directions, the DC said it had been desired to immediately do away with the attachments of the teachers and ask them to resume their duties at substantial postings.

“All attachments will be cancelled forthwith and the process of detachment will be completed by or before March 1, 2022,” he said.

The DC has asked the Chief Education Officer (CEO) Baramulla to submit the Action Taken Report to his office by or before March 1.

In this regard, the CEO Baramulla in an official communication to the DC Baramulla has said that a large chunk of teachers had been engaged as verifiers and in other COVID-related assignments in different vaccination centres of the district.

“The rush at vaccination sites is witnessing a continuous downward trend and the children in the age group of 15 to 17 years have been inoculated and engagement of teachers as verifiers in such numbers may adversely affect formal schooling,” the official communication reads.

The CEO has said, as per the ground reports, the teachers deployed as verifiers had “very little” work to do at these centres.

“You are requested to direct the Chief Medical Officer Baramulla to relieve them from this assignment so that they can join schools back,” the letter reads.

Notably, the Zonal Education Officers (ZEOs) in various districts have also cancelled the deployment and attachment of teachers who were shifted to other schools.

The teachers have been ordered to join their original postings.