Dr. Parveen Kumar
Education, a basic human development indicator is one of the most valuable means to have a society based on principles of equality, equity and social justice. Education has been described by various personalities. To some it is a liberating force, to others it is the manifestation of perfection already present in men and some others say that just like plants develop by cultivation, human beings develop by education. The general perception however is that education leads us from darkness to light. Education forms the basic block for social, economic, and political development of any country. A strong and viable education system enables the nation to achieve its national goals within the desired framework. We are a developing country with not more than seventy years of age as an independent nation. The education system borrowed from the British times has been refined and experimented with a number of times. Although the country has achieved some magnificent results but the system of education has failed to deliver what was expected of it. The success of any system is measured by its different indicators. With reference to education the established indicators are mainly the overall literacy rate, the male and female literacy rates, the dropout rate, the teacher student ratio etc. Unfortunately when it comes to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the state is considered educationally backward with low literacy and higher drop-out rate, out of school children, a gender disparity, and mismatch between education and employment.
The 2011 census report reveals that the state of Jammu and Kashmir is the most illiterate among the northern States including the newly formed Uttrakhand. Although the literacy percentage in the state is 67.16 with male literacy at 76.75 per cent and female literacy at 56.43 per cent, yet it is far behind other northern states with Himachal Pradesh having a literacy per cent at 83.78 percent, Punjab (76.68%) Haryana (76.64%), Delhi (86.34) and newly created Uttarakhand (79.63). It is here pertinent to mention that this situation is despite a considerable jump with a decadal growth of 13 per cent from the 2001 census when the literacy per cent in the state stood at 55.52. The ratio of rural to urban literacy rate is 64.97%: 78.19%. The district of Jammu tops in the literacy rate at 83.98 % followed by Samba at 81.08%, while Ramban and Bandipora districts have the lowest literacy rate in the State. Yet another embarrassment for the sector in Jammu and Kashmir is the dropout rate in the state.
Jammu and Kashmir has bagged the unenviable distinction of having one of the high dropout rates in secondary education as compared to other states and union territories.
The official data presented at the fortieth Project Approval Board of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, reveals that the dropout rate in the state from class 10th to 12th is 25.33 percent which is described as ‘very high’. It further points out that out of twenty two districts in J&K, the dropout rate in 12 districts is higher than the state level dropout rate. Jammu region can have some relief as districts in Kashmir are having higher dropout rates in secondary educational institutions than Jammu region. Districts having very high dropout rate are Kulgam (41.62%), Anantnag (41.33%), Budgam (40.90%), Ganderbal (38.51%) and Baramulla (37.09%).
Gross Enrollment Ratio: Gross primary or secondary school enrolment ratio is the number of children enrolled in a level (primary or secondary), regardless of age, divided by the population of the age group that officially corresponds to the same level. There are also huge differences in Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) at upper primary level and secondary level. GER at the upper primary level is 96.7 percent, whereas GER at the secondary level is very low at 63.45 per cent.
No. of Schools: The statistics about the number of schools in the state reports that there are 4063 secondary schools. Of these 2344 schools (57.69 percent) are Government Secondary Schools and 1672 private unaided schools which constitute 41.15 percent of the total schools. As many as 47 schools are Central Schools (1%). Out of 29494 habitations, 22876 habitations are covered by Secondary Schooling facility within 5km distance. 6618 habitations do not have secondary schools within 5 km distance.
Out of School Children (OOSC): The condition is no different at the primary level. The number of out of school children (OOSC) in Jammu and Kashmir has also increased manifold over the past few years despite the government efforts to achieve cent percent literacy. The number of out of school children in the age group of 6-7 years is 13077. Out of these, 5391 are boys and 7686 girls. Similarly, in the age group of 8-10 years, the number of children not attending schools is 16027. Out of these, 6605 are boys and 9422 girls. The number of such children in the age group of 11-14 years is 20715, out of which 8391 are boys and 12324 girls.
The case of missing students: None other than the education minister of the state Mr. Naeem Akhtar, had informed the state assembly that there are 50 schools with zero per cent students in Jammu province while in Kashmir division, 74 schools have zero per cent students.
The dismal infrastructure: A recent survey released by Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) has revealed that as many as 39 schools in J&K are running without proper buildings and 38 even lack proper classrooms. The survey carried out in the year 2014-2015 in 7,262 villages of the state also underlines that 2,667 schools operate without water facilities, and 21,381 out of 29,047 schools have no electricity connections.
