For J&K schools, Centre plans restoration, counselling, teacher insurance

A government school set on fire in Anantnag in October 2016. State government lists 36 schools as gutted; Centre proposes their restoration. (Express Photo: Shuaib Masoodi/file)

The HRD ministry has proposed revival of schools gutted in the Jammu and Kashmir unrest, emotional and career counseling for students, smart card-based health insurance for all government teachers and an exchange programme with schools outside the state. These are among interventions the ministry has proposed by to the Prime Minister’s Office and the home ministry to improve the quality of education, especially in districts affected by unrest early this year.

The blueprint, accessed by The Indian Express, calls for seven interventions to help 285 “high-need schools” in 10 districts – Anantnag, Badgam, Bandipora, Baramula, Ganderbal, Kulgam, Kupwara, Pulwama, Shopian and Srinagar – “affected by disturbances in the state”. The ministry has projected a cost of Rs 61.27 crore to implement the roadmap. According to sources, the action plan was drafted after meetings between HRD ministry and state government officials.

Buildings: The roadmap lists, as its top priority, restoration of school buildings either gutted or rendered dysfunctional in the violence. The state government has identified 36 such schools, nine of them in Ganderbal. Rebuilding and restoration is expected to cost Rs 28.2 crore and the government hopes to achieve this by December this year.

Exchange programme: Each of the 285 “high-need schools” identified by the state is proposed to be linked to a sister school outside J&K. The paired schools will engage through videoconferencing and exchange programmes to “foster mutual understanding and cross-cultural interaction”. “Increased interaction with peer groups will lead to richer exchanges of ideas, experience of cultural integration and a mutual respect for the differences in the two peer groups,” the roadmap states. The government will first run a pilot for 1,000 students this winter and scale up the programme in summer 2018. The pilot is expected to cost Rs 1.5 crore.

Counselling: The roadmap calls for emotional and career counseling for children and adolescents “affected by or prone to activities related to conflict”. The ministry has proposed to train 50 master trainers in mental health counseling, who will further train 600 schoolteachers. It has recommended introduction of dance, arts, drama and other activities, at NGOs and youth centres. There will also be career counseling over the phone for higher secondary students. The projected cost for this intervention is Rs 25 lakh.

Teacher insurance: The insurance, to boost teachers’ morale, will be provided through a smart card, which could also be used to monitor attendance. J&K has 1.10 lakh government schoolteachers. The plan, which requires an expenditure of over Rs 5 crore, will be rolled out in 2018-19.

Digital infrastructure: The ministry will provide Rs 18 crore as assistance to the state to build an ICT laboratory and provide Internet and dish TV connections in the 285 schools. Currently, only 1.3% government schools have computers and even fewer have TV sets, a Dish TV connection and projectors. The government plans to install solar panel in 229 schools that face erratic power supply.

In addition to all these steps, the ministry has also proposed adoption of NCERT books and syllabus in J&K schools, and that more schools be encouraged to get CBSE affiliation. Both have been cited as measures to improve classroom teaching and the quality of schools.