More than 400 posts of Headmasters, Principals lying vacant
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Feb 13: In complete disregard to studies of the students, the School Education Department has failed to fill up vacant posts of Head Masters and Principals thus rendering a large number of Government run schools headless while hundreds of teachers were officially kept engaged in non-teaching assignments during the peak session ahead of annual examinations.
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Official sources told the Excelsior that more than 400 Government high schools and higher secondary schools in Jammy division are headless as the posts of Headmaster and Principal in these schools are lying vacant since long.
Lacklustre approach of the top authorities in respect of School Education Department affairs and its smooth running can be further gauged from the fact that besides Principals and Headmasters, two- third posts of Zonal Education Officers (ZEOs) in Jammu division are also lying vacant.
Above all, more ironic is the fact that during peak academic session ahead of annual examinations, hundreds of teachers in Jammu district have been kept away from their prime duty of teaching students in schools by officially engaging them in non-teaching assignments, sources said.
These teachers were engaged as Investigators for Baseline Survey under Project YUVA, from January 1, 2025 to February 12 when the academic session was at its peak and exams were approaching nearer, sources explained.
As the administration did not take concerned Chief Education Officers into confidence before deputing the teachers for Baseline Survey, the exercise severely affected studies of students in the schools which are already understaffed or having single teacher only.
Besides engagement of the teaching staff in non-teaching assignment, non-filling up of vacant posts of Headmasters and Principals has been severely affecting functioning of the Government run schools.
According to the sources, 385 high schools and 40 Higher Secondary Schools in Jammu division are headless as posts of Headmaster and Principal of these schools are lying vacant.
Higher Secondary School Gandhi Nagar, HSS Akhnoor, Girls HSS Akhnoor, HSS Domana, Camp HSS Nagrota, HSS Gharota, High School Pata Bohri, HS Kangrail, HSS Gajansoo, HSS Ploura are among the headless schools in Jammu district only.
Situation is more grave in other districts where the number of headless schools is greater. HSS Basohli, Girls HSS Samba, HSS Ghordi, Boys HSS Doda, , Boys HSS Poonch, HSS Boys Kathua, Girls HSS Bhaderwah, HSS Soulki, HSS Kootah, HSS Kotranka are prominent among such schools.
Similarly, sources said, 62 out of 97 posts of ZEO are also lying vacant in Jammu division with the result official matters concerning schools and teachers in these Zones are pending.
In Jammu district, 12 out of 14 posts of ZEO are lying vacant while 11 out of 12 posts of ZEO in Kathua district and four out of five posts in Samba district are vacant, sources informed.
Interestingly, such a huge number of posts of ZEOs, Headmasters and Principals are lying vacant despite completion of the exercise of preparing seniority lists of eligible candidate for promotion and vigilance clearance of the names also since long.
“For the reasons best known to the higher authorities, promotion lists are not being released by the administrative department. Top authorities are responsible for the headless schools and engagement of teaching staff in non-teaching assignments, but the ultimate sufferer are innocent students while the teachers will also have to face punitive action despite no fault on their end as their increments are stopped after poor results of class 10th and 12th classes,” said teachers on the condition of anonymity.
Despite repeated attempts, the Minister for Education, Sakina Itoo could not be contacted for her comment.
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