With reverence many of my childhood friends who are serving education department applause to the government for Transfer system through on-line portal. It was not so easy, it was not so straight, it was not so cheap and it was really bad. Many other components in education can be well organized gracefully. We need to establish a full fledged monitoring wing and should a have a firsthand knowledge of who is who. A faculty member of a university once put a post on a social media regarding the credentials of a person and it was narrated that the professor received complaints in large bags and with numerous allegations. I was going through an old paper, which mentions, “Politics of Education” in Kashmir and it was supplemented by number of heart rendering stories of some educated persons. There is a need to establish a monitoring wing, who can have knowledge of who is who in education in Kashmir.  

Besides this, the monitoring wing can have birds eye on other urgent issues related to education. It is not truly good to have education related issues in press often.  Recently, written an article, “Who Needs Examination in Winters” in Kashmir received many accolades all across the valley wherein I have mentioned that in Kashmir we have a pleasant weather for around 9 months  and all board and university examinations should be held during that period, with a suggestion that October and November are best for annual examination. Institutions/Boards should come up with annual calendar for annual examinations well in time.

Similarly, “Goodbye to paper-pen based examination” appeared in press is the need of the hour. The ubiquitousness of several computer-based examination systems must encourage institutions to shift to online examinations.  These platforms support a host of knowledge and application-based questions, enabling examiners to prepare a questionnaire with multiple question types, which range from MCQs, fill in the blanks, check boxes to short answers and long answers (nonetheless that need to be evaluated by the teacher separately). We only need teachers to make students think and should act as mentors, not someone standing in a classroom and lecturing. NTA though young is doing the best.

Govt of India has made a noble initiative under the name Prime Ministers Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS), wherein thousands of youth have received Higher Education in different institutions of the country in different disciplines. The programme is being coordinated by AICTE, New Delhi.

Another major concern, which I have observed from the last two decades in Education, that it is very difficult to see the time bound completion of recruitment processes, including in bigger institutions. In J&K, for one reason or the other, a single competitive examination process takes years to conclude leaving many candidates overage and thus ineligible for future examinations. Usually recruitment process land in tribunals and troubles with the applicants. I am inspired by the UPSC and other central agencies for making in time recruitments, with a very little application fee.

There are many centrally sponsored schemes which need to be monitored regularly. Most educational development projects want to contribute to an educational change in an educational system. Every educational establishment has a responsibility to monitor the effectiveness of the service being provided for its students and to the people. Monitoring is a system of activities with three critical components: it requires the regular collection of information, it requires an evaluation of that information and most importantly, it requires that the evaluation results. Teachers should not be the mute spectators and civil societies should not relinquish their responsibilities, should bring the crucial issues of their localities in notice of the governments.

The author is teaching Nanotechnology at NIT Srinagar