Govt. teachers doing two jobs in J&K

Taking tuition classes in private coaching centres, as the Govt. 

schools suffer

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Aug 24: Despite strict ban, private tuition centers are being run by the teachers, lecturers and professors of government schools and colleges located within Jammu city.

These centers are doing their best to attract students with impunity for their benefits flouting all the established norms.

It is pertinent to mention here that couple of months ago, after the frequent complaints from the various quarters about the alleged highhandedness of mushrooming private coaching centers in every nook and corner of the state, state government had directed private coaching centers to get registered with the government before starting a batch in the new session.

They were also directed to provide other details like number of students enrolled in the institutes, qualification of their staff, details of fee structure and above all, told to keep 10 percent reservation for poor and needy students.

However, even after passage of considerable time, these tuition centers are yet to comply with the government order and they have started new batches of various classes.

There are more than a hundred private coaching institutes operating in Jammu city and its adjoining areas that provide coaching to all classes from Primary to University level, and even for competitive examinations.

Also on the directions of the High Court, the school education department had directed schools to ensure that no government teacher would take private tuitions either in their homes or in private tuition centers during working hours.

It was also directed that even if any of the teachers wanted to take private tuitions before and after the school hours; they had to seek no objection certificate (NOC)” from the department. It is also seen that like other of the state government, this order is also gathering dust in the official files and nothing concrete has been done in this regard to check the erring teachers.

In the beginning, the teams of the education department did conduct raids in different parts of the Jammu region to put a check on the mushrooming tuition centers and erring government teachers. But at present, there are no reports of the inspections and raids of the teams of the department.

Director School Education (DSE) Jammu Gulzar Qureshi said that they are strictly monitoring the situation, but there are some loopholes which needs to be addressed.

Meanwhile Women Empowerment Forum (WEF) has asked the state government
to devise a policy to keep check over the functioning of private coaching institution in the state to save students from exploitation.

WEF president, Dr. Anuradha Goswami alleged that private coaching institutions had been charging exorbitant fees from the students for preparing them for Medical, Engineering and other competitive examinations.