Children studying in more than 50 per cent Government schools in the State of Jammu & Kashmir have been deprived of playground facilities.
Ironically, more than 2,800 schools in the State are without drinking water facilities while over 3,400 schools do not have their own building.
According to the written reply submitted by the Education Minister in the State Assembly, “there are 23,684 Government schools including 3,904 clubbed schools and 5,292 private schools in the State”.
Out of these 12032 schools are without play ground facilities, 11562 schools are without compound walling, 2817 schools are without drinking water facilities.
According to the written reply, “5005 schools in Jammu and 7027 schools in Kashmir division are without play ground facilities, while 7835 schools in Jammu and 3727 schools in Kashmir are without compound walling while 2509 schools in Jammu and 308 schools in Kashmir are without drinking water facilities”.
When it comes to providing library facilities to the children the track record of govt schools is very poor. More than 2000 Govt schools are without library facilities in the state, 3427 are without Government building while 470 have no laboratory.
There are 105 schools in Jammu and 140 in Kashmir which are without Principal/ Head Master and 1257 schools in Jammu and 1497 schools in Kashmir are without subject teachers while 476 schools in Jammu and 207 schools in Kashmir recorded less than 30 per cent result in the state.
The state Education Minister also informed the state assembly that in March 2015 the state had 146 schools with zero enrolment and more than 3000 schools with enrolment of less than 15 students.
Referring to the issue of non payment of salaries of SSA teachers the Minister said, in the absence of due instalment of funds to the tune of Rs928 crore the outstanding salaries of SSA teachers could not be released. The Minister said the matter has been taken up with the MHRD for early release of the instalment.