J-K’s Education Department directs display of teacher photos to deter proxy teaching

SRINAGAR — Jammu and Kashmir School Education Department has directed all the government educational institutes to display photographs of teachers to ‘prevent the practice of teaching staff by sending proxies on their behalf’.

According to the news agency KNO, Director of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) notified this in a communiqué to Chief Education Officers (CEOs) of the region.

An official at DSEK said, “As per the orders, it seems that there may be some teachers in the department who are sending proxies on their behalf. The concerned authorities may have accordingly issued the orders to curb such practices.”

“The third Chief Secretaries Conference is proposed to be held on December 27-29. The theme identified for this conference is ‘Promoting Ease of Living’ with a special focus on ‘Ease of Schooling’ to enhance access to schools and ensure the quality of service delivered,” it reads.

The communiqué further reads, “One of the key action points identified for the matter is ‘proxy teachers’—displaying of photographs of teachers in schools.”

DSEK accordingly has requested CEOs to take necessary action in this regard so as to saturate the key initiative.

“The photographs of all the teachers may be displayed in all the schools of your (CEOs) respective districts and provide an updated status of it by mentioning the total number of schools and total number of teachers covered under this initiative whose photographs have been displayed in the prescribed format,” it reads.

Pertinently, the orders were issued on the directions of the Ministry of Education (MoE) for the Government of India (GoI) on December 19.

Meanwhile, Director of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) Tassaduq Hussain Mir was not available for his comments.