‘School Education deptt yet to start construction of 30 per cent schools, work on 22 per cent schools in progress’
Srinagar, Sep 23: Even as the government has approved 682 new secondary schools for Jammu and Kashmir in the past one decade, the School Education department in a bizarre move is constructing the institutions at snail’s pace as 53 per cent schools of them are still awaiting completion.
Ironically, of the 221 newly approved secondary schools from 2014-15 to 2019-20, the School Education department is yet to start the construction of 179 government secondary schools while the construction of 42 schools is still in progress.
The official figures of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) available with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) states that the government had approved construction of new 682 secondary schools from 2009-10 to 2019-20 out of which only 317 have been completed.
Of the total number of schools approved since 2009-10 till current academic year, the School Education Department is yet to start construction of 30.64 per cent schools while 22.87 per cent schools are under construction and only 46.48 per cent construction have been completed.
The figures reveal that in the academic year 2009-10, a total of 66 secondary schools were approved and the School Education department has completed construction of only 53 schools.
However, the construction of six schools is yet to be started and seven schools are under construction.
Similarly, 158 secondary schools were approved in 2010-11 out of which construction in 112 have been completed while the construction of 36 schools are still in progress and work in 10 schools is yet to be started.
Likewise, in the year 2011-12, at least 237 secondary schools were approved. However, the construction of only 152 schools has been completed while 71 are under construction and work in 14 schools is yet to be started.
The MHRD has not mentioned how many schools were approved and constructed during the academic years of 2012-13 and 2013-14.
In the year 2014-15, the government had approved construction of 110 secondary schools out of which construction in no school have been completed while 40 are in progress and construction in 70 schools is yet to be started.
During the academic year 2016-17, a total of 21 secondary schools were approved out of which two schools are under construction while work in 19 institutions is yet to be started.
In three academic years, from 2017-18 to 2019-20, a total of 90 secondary schools were approved and the construction was not started in any school.
