Education Department is reportedly inducting what could be called austerity drive. Some time back, in these columns, we had invited the attention of the Government to the wastage of manpower and some administrative irregularities in the State Education Department. We had said that in many cases there is imbalance between the number of students in some schools and the number of teachers assigned to the school concerned. It was either more students and fewer teachers or more teachers and fewer students. In either case, imbalance needed to be set right. This irregularity had happened because of vested interests. Some influential teachers had manipulated to stay closer to their homes in the city of Jammu. In many primary schools, the number of students was far less than what it should have been. In response to the situation brought to light, the Education Department authorities have taken some steps of clubbing some schools together and saving the monthly rent which the department had to pay for renting accommodation. We learn that 115 Government schools in Jammu district are run from rented accommodations, owned by the Custodian Department, Auqaf, Municipal Corporation or private persons. As a matter of principal, a school should have its own accommodation, playground and adequate premises. Students need to have a sense of belonging. The impression of school life is a lasting impression with all of us. Moreover schools have to be reasonably modern with all amentias and sanitary requirements. In most of the rented schools these facilities are not provided. We, therefore, exhort the Education Department to firmly introduce the revised policy of rationalizing the student-teacher ratio in all schools and gradually shift from running schools in private accommodation to Government accommodation. This will require long time to complete. Nevertheless, beginning has to be made at some point. It is also important that in view of expansion of Jammu city, and paucity of space, Government should take steps right now of acquiring adequate space for schools that are likely to come up in next two decades or more. What we mean to say is that there has to be well-considered planning for opening new schools in times to come. Sites for new schools, infrastructure, accessibility, recreational facilities, play grounds etc. are some of the fundamental requirements for a modern school. These have to be provided and that is called school planning.
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