Over 3,000 J&K government schools have below 10 students: Minister

SRINAGAR: More than 3,000 government schools in J&K have zero or less than 10 students since 2022, Education Minister Sakina Itoo said in the Assembly on Saturday.Replying to a question from BJP MP RS Pathania, Itoo of the National Conference (NC) said that out of 3,192 such schools, 1,494 are in Jammu and 1,698 in Kashmir.In Jammu, Kathua district has the highest number of such schools at 508. In Kashmir, Baramulla district tops the list with 396 such schools. Srinagar has the lowest number of such schools in the valley with 90, while Poonch has the lowest number of such schools in Jammu region with 17.The North Carolina government also revealed significant infrastructure gaps – 2,698 schools have no boys’ toilets, 57 schools have no girls’ toilets, 9,078 schools have no fences and 10,896 schools lack playgrounds.Patania called the numbers a “reveal” and said they reflected a lack of public confidence in public schools. “Why are these schools opened if people don’t enroll their children in them?” he said, claiming the schools were run primarily to accommodate teaching staff.PDP’s former J&K education minister Naeem Akhtar called it a “serious situation” and accused the NC government of reducing education as an employment plan for some teachers while neglecting the primary duty of educating students. “The primary responsibility of the government is human development. The data presents a dismal picture. It is not that there are no students. They are forced to shift to private schools due to lack of facilities and poor teaching methods in government schools,” Akhtar said.Baba Nazrul Islam, president of the Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK), agreed that the data reflected the growing popularity of private schools due to better infrastructure, accountability and faster decision-making. But he warned that the government should view private schools not as competitors but as “knowledge partners”. “This problem can be solved if the government agrees to cooperate with private schools,” Islam said.