Shyam Sudan
School is an important formal agency of education. After the home it becomes the first formal place where a child learns various skills and traits. Early schooling in everyone’s life plays a vital role in refining the hidden potential and traits in an individual. The foundation of a disciplined and civilized society lay on the threshold of a school courtyard. In J&K both private and government schools are imparting education among children since independence. But in recent decades the private institutions are able to succeed in winning the faith of the public. The inclination of parents gradually shifted from government schools to private schools and academies. And as a result we have seen a rapid growth and mushrooming of private institutions in our state. In every nook and corner there is a private academy or private school. Even in villages people generally sent their children in academies by managing their house budget. However in government schools the strength of the children is continuously decreasing at a rapid pace. Government schools are losing their credibility and age old prestige. Also they are unable to win the public faith besides lot of improvement and initiative from the government side. No doubt government is spending a huge budget for improving the standard of these schools (government schools). There are a lot of schemes for the welfare of children in government schools. There is provision of mid day meal, a mega nourishment scheme in all government schools of the UT where a balanced diet is given to every child up to upper prime level. Moreover there is provision of distribution of free uniforms in govt schools to every child. Free text books are provided to every child at the beginning of new academic session. Also there is provision of various types of scholarship schemes in these schools. The universal programme of de-worming and routine medical check-up is also implemented in the government schools of the UT. But still people are not interested in sending their children in these schools. There is a wrong notion among people that government schools are meant only for poor people. They think that if they send their children in government schools then it will be a humiliating thing with their status and prestige in the society. They generally get attracted towards glancing and fabricated atmosphere of the private schools. No doubt private institutions are giving every facilities and comfort to their children although it is from pockets of the parents of children, who are fully satisfied with performance and glancing lifestyle of their children. Bitter reality is that there is no government school which can compete with any private institution in matter of its infrastructure facilities and comfort. There are no government schools in the UT which has its transport facilities for children. A lot of government schools are without boundary wall and improper fencing facilities. But in private schools there are proper arrangements of heating and cooling. In the name of cleanliness several events are organised in government schools but there is no permanent employee for this work (cleanliness). In private institutions there is deployment of responsible persons for cleanliness and sanitation. Moreover the sitting arrangement for children in private schools is better than government schools of the UT. The main reason for poor performances of government schools children is the neglected approach of their parents and shortage of expertise teaching faculty in deserving place. There is acute shortage of teaching faculty in various schools of remote and far flung areas. In such schools the strength of students is appropriate but due to shortage of teaching faculty mostly such children suffers a lot. Rationalization of teaching faculty is the only plausible solution for this problem. In Delhi government has taken very praiseworthy and exemplary initiatives to raise the standard of government schools. Similar approach is needed here to uplift the standard of these schools. There is an urgent need to give more stress at primary level. Mostly in government schools this stage of schooling (primary level) is suffering a large due to one or other reasons. There is also need to equip these schools with proper sports material for kids. Now recently various kind of sports materials has been provided in different schools of the UT. It is a very praiseworthy initiative from government side. Now various kinds of guidance and counseling cell, cultural cell and other clubs has been organized in different schools of union territory. With the launch of new education policy 2020, in coming days we will see more drastic changes in our government schools. There is an urgent need to merge the Anganwaris centers with adjoining schools for holistic development of all. However it is not possible in all places due to various topographic hurdles and other reasons. But we can manage the things in a better way if it becomes clubbed. On the other hand if Teaching faculty of government schools be exempted from any extra duty like BLO, election duty, survey duty etc. It will give more fruitful results. There is no official of private institutions generally engage in such kind of extra works. The teachers of private institutions are answerable to their head of the institution. But there is not any strong control of head of institution in government schools. More power must be given to the head of the institution in government schools to utilize the services of their staff. There is also a strong need to frame a transparent and solid transfer policy for government teachers. Many teachers who are posted outside their native zone suffered for many years for their transfer. This harassment further leads to irritability and frustration in teachers minds thus affect the teaching process. Also in government schools there is practice of frequent data collection for every information. Usually teachers are engaged in completion of such kind of extra work. This affects the class room teachings in government schools. If we adopt these steps on priority basis. Only then the age old prestige and status of government schools can be regained, only then we can win the faith of parent and general public towards government schools. in this digital era there is need of more trained and expertise faculty in our schools. Because now the aspirations, demand and needs of our children is totally different from the old time. Now there is need of a different facilitators and guide which can satisfy the curiosity of new generation learners. In this lockdown period teachers have learned a lot from virtual mode of teaching. Now our age old methods of teaching become outdated and obsolete one. There is an urgent need to train the teachers for this digital technology and its handling in a smooth way. Because we can only implement the provisions of new education policy when there is availability of expertise and committed teaching faculty. We should never forget that new education policy will only be result oriented when we adopt the right approach with dedicated human resources. We should never forget that honesty is the best policy. There is no policy above this. Despite having all the facilities in Govt schools why we become unable to win the faith of public it is big question mark for all of us.
