Shocking Revelation: Over 2600 teachers in J-K teaching without adequate qualifications

SRINAGAR — In Jammu and Kashmir, more than 2600 teachers are having below secondary level qualifications and are teaching students at all levels. Ironically, among the total number of such teachers with below secondary level qualifications, over 1700 are teaching primary-level classes.

According to the news agency KNO, the official figures reveal that a total of 2685 teachers with below secondary level qualifications were teaching students at all levels.

The official figures reveal that at the pre-primary level across Jammu and Kashmir, at least 276 such teachers were teaching the students. It also states that at least 1773 such teachers which amount to more than 66 percent were teaching the students at the primary level.

The official figures reveal that at the upper primary level, a total of 540 teachers were teaching the students followed by 88 teachers at the secondary level and eight teachers at the higher secondary level.

Meanwhile, one of the government teachers wishing anonymity said, “As per government norms, a person should be at least graduate in order to be able to teach students regardless of levels, be it primary, upper primary or secondary level.”

The teacher said that it doesn’t matter as to whether such teachers are from government or private schools, “I believe they should enhance their qualifications so that their teaching ability improves and students won’t suffer.”

In 2021, the Government of India (GoI) said that in Jammu and Kashmir, over 2000 ‘untrained’ teachers posted in Government Secondary Schools lack the requisite professional qualifications to teach the students.

Ministry of Education (MoE) for the GoI and officials of Jammu and Kashmir in a Project Approval Board Meeting (PAB) 2021-22, held earlier this year, has said, “There are 2061 untrained teachers in Government Secondary Schools based on UDISE 2018-19 who do not meet the requisite professional qualifications.”

In the meeting, the GoI advised the Jammu and Kashmir Government to roll out a policy to enroll such teachers in teacher’s education institutions to complete the professional course without having minimum qualifications. “All untrained teachers need to professionally train so as to be compliant with National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) regulations,” GoI has said.

The GoI also informed the J&K Government that during the current year, all left-out untrained teachers, masters and lecturers of the School Education Department shall be enrolled in the B.Ed course through IGNOU.