Jammu, November 25: The education sector in the state of Jammu and Kashmir is awaiting for a total revamp for a long time now as no innovative or progressive policies have been introduced to rejuvenate the sector while the ideas that might have changed the educational scenario in Jammu and Kashmir have not been adopted due to sarkari attitude that private sector success stories are not to be followed.
The education sector in J&K needs new vision and new policies by discarding the old traditional practices that have now been rendered useless in view of the drastic changes in the infrastructure, curriculum and the advancement in teaching technologies in India.
The old system of running educational institutions has proved counterproductive in modern times with government schools in urban sectors witnessing steep decline in student enrolment while the private institutions are gaining the ground fast inspite of the fact that they don’t have huge financial backing like that of the government.
The new government particularly its new Education ministers who have been indicating that that actually mean business have not been able to make a visible change as they too seem to follow the old traditional system instead of introducing new blood and new thinking to revamp the sector and make it more vibrant and useful for the students.
The government needs to involve the private sector in training the faculty at government educational institutions so that the government teachers also work like the teachers of the private schools and develop interest among the students to join government schools while the private educational institutions that adopt modern techniques and innovative methods are encouraged to provide a better education to the students of the state.
The problem with the government is that it follows certain rules and regulations blindly without caring to relook at the rules and find out whether they conform to the new ground realities and the changing methodology in educating our new generation.
The government instead of encouraging the private sector is seen hunting for those who excel and try to curb their progress even as the right approach should have been to utilize their services to develop the government institutions since they have expertise to run the institutions successfully on meager resources while the government spends manifold on the government institutions with little outcome.
The need of the hour is to think out of the box and as the Chief Minister Mufti Mohamed Sayeed has rightly said that thorough professionals must be involved in all the sectors that includes education to bring results even if that means modifying the government rules as rules are after all meant to benefit the general public and if something is obstructing the development those rules should be discarded as is being done by the government of India.
One can only hope that better sense prevails upon the government and good and successful entrepreneurs in the educational sectors are invited for a detailed debate and involved in the betterment of the educational sector in J&K so that the citizens reap the benefits of the good governance of the new government. (Repeat)