There are reports pouring in highlighting the allotment of non-teaching assignments. Concrete reports suggest that it is only a few blue-eyed teachers who are cherry picked for such so-called academic research projects while the performing teachers are shunted to cul de sac postings. Despite going out of the way to teach with their tremendous efforts and reaching these remote area schools on time, braving traffic chaos in towns, limited availability of transport, weather vagaries, and whatnot, these teachers were never considered for these non-teaching assignments.
Some of the teachers teaching in remote areas of Bandipora, Baramulla, and Kupwara districts indicate that some of the influential teachers have retained such non-teaching assignments for more than fifteen years and throughout their career as teachers never bother to teach in remote area schools. A huge number of meritorious candidates who have proven their mettle time and again have never been considered for such non-teaching academic research projects. There is dripping nepotism happening in the SED in the distribution of no-teaching assignments, even the teachers are assigned roles as DRG, ZCC, and clerk works.
The first and foremost thing that the government can do in this scenario is to take proactive measures to relieve all teachers from offices and hold them accountable for their primary job of teaching in schools. While for these academic projects the assignments must be rostered evenly so that every teacher gets a fair chance to contribute to the curriculum design and timely innovations. Definitely a teacher who has taught in a remote school in Karnah, Keran, Uri, and Lolab has got the experience and first-hand exposure to the needs of students living in the frontier areas. Why are such teachers not kept on the roster for such non-academic assignments? Why are teachers holding on to these non-academic positions for years on end?
The Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has launched a crusade against corruption and only yesterday we saw an officer of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) being booked for possessing assets disproportionate to his income. We impress upon LG Manoj Sinha to personally intervene in this matter and ensure equitable rostering of such non-teaching assignments. An easy way would be to call back all teachers who have spent more than five years in such projects to start teaching in schools in the remote areas of these districts.
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