Srinagar, June 25: In a decisive move to streamline school functioning and address learning gaps, the School Education Department (SED) of Jammu and Kashmir has directed that no government school should operate with a single teacher.
The department has also strictly barred the deployment of teachers for non-teaching duties, reinforcing its focus on core academic delivery.
The directive, issued ahead of a high-level review meeting chaired by Principal Secretary SED, Dr. Piyush Singla, seeks to ensure that learning outcomes are not compromised due to administrative lapses or manpower shortages.
“All Chief Education Officers (CEOs) must ensure that no school is functioning with only one teacher. Multi-teacher deployment should be the norm,” said a senior official in the department.
The circular also reiterates that teachers should not be assigned duties unrelated to classroom teaching, such as clerical work in zonal or district offices, or election and census-related tasks, barring exceptional circumstances. The aim, officials say, is to keep educators focused on improving foundational literacy and numeracy among students.
The directive comes in the backdrop of concerns over declining performance in government-run schools, especially in rural and remote areas, where understaffing and teacher absenteeism have been chronic issues.
The upcoming review meeting is expected to assess school-wise staff strength, student enrollment, and performance indicators. The department has also instructed district officials to furnish compliance reports and highlight schools in need of immediate attention.
Observers believe this could mark a shift in how accountability is enforced in the education sector in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the post-pandemic era when the learning curve has significantly dipped for early graders.
