Is anyone listening while our children’s study suffer badly?
15 Government Schools Still Cursed with Single-Teacher Reality — Who Will Answer for This Educational Betrayal?
Why does the School Education Minister, Ms. Sakina Itoo, maintain a deafening silence in the face of this colossal blunder — a deliberate and calculated assault on the future of our children?
Poonch, Jul 12:
In what can only be described as an unforgivable indictment of the state’s rural education system, fifteen government-run schools in the border district of Poonch continue to languish under the so-called “single-teacher curse.” The Jammu and Kashmir Rehbar-e-Taleem Teachers Forum (JKRETTF) has sounded a blistering alarm, laying bare the grim reality of students condemned to neglected classrooms while the corridors of power remain deaf to their plight.
In a scathing public appeal that spares no authority, the Forum has questioned the conspicuous silence of the Hon’ble Education Minister Sakina Itoo and the Director of School Education, Jammu. If neither Cluster Heads nor Zonal Education Officers (ZEOs) wield the power to address this appalling staffing vacuum, then who does? Or must the future of Poonch’s children remain hostage to bureaucratic apathy and ceremonial directives that exist only on paper?
JKRETTF District President Mr. Hamid Nabbaz minced no words, condemning what he termed “a wilful abandonment of poor and marginalised students.” “How is a lone teacher expected to teach multiple grades, hold examinations, maintain registers, conduct online assessments, and still deliver genuine education?” he demanded, exposing the absurdity of the current farce.
The schools worst hit include six primary schools in Sathra Zone — PS Arinag, Phamran, Dehdran Nali, Gillaran, Doba Padar, and Kalsan — and nine more in Zone Mandi, such as MS Darmiana Ban, MS Granga, PS Mohalla Qazian, among others. These institutions stand as tragic symbols of the system’s indifference, where teachers are forced to shoulder impossible burdens while children’s dreams wither unattended.
Educators on the ground now openly dismiss the so-called “rationalisation process” — meant to equitably deploy staff — as an empty ritual, more rhetoric than reform. The situation is all the more dire in Poonch’s harsh winter zones, where the academic calendar shrinks to a mere three months. Here, the lack of teachers strikes at the very heart of meaningful learning.
Far from a routine complaint, the Forum’s urgent missive is a fierce call to action. It demands an immediate halt to the mindless merging of schools and the urgent deployment of qualified teachers where they are needed most. “When schools are arbitrarily clubbed, the blame for poor enrolment or performance lands on teachers who are, in truth, the victims of this administrative neglect,” the Forum declares.
The question now thunders across the beleaguered hills of Poonch: Will those at the helm continue to hide behind hollow policies, or will they finally answer the cries echoing from these forgotten classrooms? For these children are not mere numbers to balance on dusty files — they are the promise of a better tomorrow. If the government fails them today, who will teach our children tomorrow?
