Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
The tussle between Government teachers and authorities in J&K has taken a different turn. Earlier Rehbar e Taleem teachers (ReT’s) were on a warpath against the Government particularly former Education Minister Naeem Akhtar , now it is the J&K Teachers Forum (JKTF) who are threatening to come on roads against the decision of Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) for not allowing teachers forum to undertake any activity in schools during working hours. The Director school education Kashmir Dr Shah Faesal has become the sole target of J&K Teachers Forum. On the other hand large number of academicians , civil society groups are supporting the Government’s move for streamlining education system. People on social media are seen supporting Shah Faesal for his decision to curtail the activities of JKTF.
JKTF v/s DSEK
Soon after Dr Shah Faesal took over as Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) , he has been on the move to streamline the rotten education system. Even before joining the Education directorate in Kashmir, Faesal had already initiated lot of positive work in Government run schools in Bandipora district of North Kashmir where he was posted as District Magistrate (DM) prior to his present posting . He began with New Leaf Initiative (NLI) about which I have written several columns. In-fact I had myself visited as many as one dozen schools in Bandipora last summer where Shah Faesal was seen taking classes himself along with a band of young KAS officers and few young men and women associated with prominent NGO’s like Pratham , Teach for India etc. Two fellows from PM’s Rural Development Fellowship Programme were also completely involved with NLI in Bandipora for many months . Several teacher training programmes, workshops were conducted by the DM himself . The learning capabilities of Government school children in Bandipora was very weak , but in most of the schools where there was direct intervention of the district administration , a drastic change was seen within a period of just 3 to 4 months. This young and energetic officer is trying to bring out a change in the school education sector , but the vested interested people within the same directorate are trying their best to derail this whole process. The Director school education Kashmir recently issued a circular asking teachers not to get involved in trade union activities during office hours. While reacting to this the J&K Teachers Forum President criticized this move. He said “Shah Faesal cannot act as a dictator. He cannot stop our unionism as we are fighting for our rights and trying to correct the education system in the schools. He is playing with fire”. The President of Teachers Forum was reacting to the order of the Director who had asked for strict action against teachers and their associations for using offices and schools for their union activities during duty hours.
Teachers Unions in Europe :
Nobody can deny the role of Trade Unions in Jammu & Kashmir. They have fought for rights of the employees and still continue to do so. But on the other hand let us think for a while , what has been the role of Trade Unions especially those associated with school education towards reforming school education in Jammu & Kashmir ? The trade union leaders always come to streets to highlight the problems of employees and I do support it , but have they ever passed a single resolution vis a vis making teacher fraternity accountable ? Have they ever spoken against the corruption within the education department ? Why have they been mum for all these years ? Don’t they know that offices of the Chief Education Officers (CEO’s) and Zonal Education Offices (ZEO’s) are openly accepting bribes for simple transfers ? On the other hand the Congress of the Trade Union Federation of Education and Science of Albania in 2013 opened the way for deepening Albanian teacher unions’ involvement in the Unite for Quality Education campaign. The ten key messages adopted by the committee on ‘What is needed to improve the Quality of Education in Europe ?’ were communicated to the Ministry of Education and Sports, and to the Ministry of Welfare and Youth. The Albanian trade union demanded an increase of 5% of share of the GDP invested in education from 3.4% and that was accepted after a brief struggle. The joint Magazine of the two Albanian trade unions in education – “Tribuna Sindikale”, informed teachers and the public about the focus of the initiative. Their main demand was quality public education for all children in Albania. In addition to it the Bosnian higher education and science trade union, (HESUEBH) is struggling to raise public awareness on the need of access to quality and free public education, as a fundamental determinant for every citizen. Harsh austerity measures imposed by the government, in conjunction with the persistent problems since the country’s civil war of 1992-1995, have also been the cause of social and political unrest in that country. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) in UK had launched a campaign few years back called “Stand up for education”. After having engaged in talks with parents and public, NUT put a pressure on Government for educational reforms. Has J&K Teachers Forum , ReT Forum ever engaged students and parents in such activities ? I haven’t heard of any such programme.
Conclusion :
I am not undermining trade unions within our education department , but I request them to change their strategy and try to expand their way of working. They must think big. Shah Faesal is a hardworking young officer who wants to set things right, he wants to see an end to corruption in his directorate, he wants to ensure children from poor families get quality education. He is an activist at heart and bureaucrat by actions. He is not corrupt and greedy. If he has this vision , why cannot our trade unions and director sit together and prepare a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) which could pave a way for involvement of J&K Teachers Forum (JKTF) in all the aforementioned activities. JKTF and ReT Teachers Forum must become torchbearers for the state as they lead an army of 70,000 teachers in state. If these organizations positively and honestly uses its manpower, I believe it will revolutionize our school education system which would be beneficial for the coming generations ?
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