Condition in Government girls schools situated close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch is disappointing. Essentially the flaws in primary and middle schools for girls are that the authorities fail to do their duty. By and large, parents are loath to send their daughters to the school for a couple of reasons. Teaching quality is very low. Secondly, teachers usually play the truant and students just gossip or waste their time when the teacher is absent. There is little accountability on the part of authorities for dereliction of duty. Thirdly physical conditions and infrastructural requirements for a girls’ school are lacking. Can one imagine a girl’s school without public facility? And lastly it is the security element that affects enrolment of girls in the Primary or Middle schools. The case of Government Middle School in village Salotri, a neglected village along the zero line, has been adequately brought to light in the columns of this paper. The true figures about the percentage of girl students seeking admission in border schools vary with what is being given out by the authorities including the reports of the MHRD. In an overall estimate the percentage of girls admitted to schools in villages close to border has fallen. Female literacy rate of the state, is lagging at 58 %, much behind the male literacy rate of 78.3
The Department of School Education needs to take stock of ground situation especially in regard to schools that are very close to the border. Proper sanitary facilities should be provided to all schools and strict action should be taken against teachers playing truant. The quality of education in Government schools has to be improved and then there should be counselling and motivation programme for the parents to encourage them to send girl to the school. How can we make meaningful progress when nearly half of the population consisting of females remains illiterate?
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