Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 28: Former Education Minister and senior AAP leader, Harsh Dev Singh today alleged that centralization of powers of transfers and postings of teaching staff by the administrative Deptt, whimsical transfers, favouritism, nepotism, corruption and violation of norms have brought the Education Department on the brink of breakdown.
“While the Directors of School Education and CEOs of all districts have been divested of powers of transfers and adjustments of all teaching staff right from Teachers to Masters and Lecturers, the Principal Secretary has assumed all such powers to himself thereby making a mockery of the powers decentralization policy that remained in vogue for the last more than seven decades,” he said, while addressing a press conference, here today.
Harsh Dev Singh alleged that several remote area schools had become defunct due to extreme paucity of staff with the concerned CEOs and DSEs expressing helplessness in the wake of withdrawal of powers from them. “Whatever be the reason, the fact remains that the Education Deptt has gone to dogs with urban area schools flooded due to prime postings and attachments and rural area schools deprived of even minimum needed staff thereby completely jeopardising the careers of rural poor students,” he added.
Divulging details of poor staff position in some of the rural schools of Chenani zone, Harsh Dev Singh said that during his tenure as Education Minister a minimum of 25 posts were provided in each HSS, 10 in HS, 6 in Middle schools and three in every Primary school.
Flaying the Education Department for its criminal apathy towards rural education, Mr Singh urged upon the Lt Governor to undertake a complete overhauling of the corruption plagued department and take appropriate measures to streamline it and restore its credibility. He made a fervent appeal to the LG to remove B K Singh as Secretary Education to save Education Department and post him in Forest Department, he being an Indian Forest Services (IFS) officer.
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