Let govt implement Choice of Education to enable parents to send children to private or govt schools

Jammu, June 15 (KNS): Private Schools Association of Jammu (PSAJ) today termed the result of Secondary class in Jammu division as an eye opener for government and the society as even during the lockdown Private Schools have managed to maintain the quality of education and achieved 85 percent pass percentage as against 55 percentage achieved by government school students.
In a statement issued to KNS., Congratulating the students and teachers for achieving the feat during the trying times, the Association said that even as schools have been closed for more than half a year the students of private schools have been able to bring laurels. “On one hand schools have been hugely impacted in the aftermath of 05 August and later due to lockdown that too at the crucial time of exams. But still our students managed to pass with flying colours all due to commitment and dedication of teachers from private schools,” said the spokesperson of PSAJ.
The Association said that the actual pass percentage of governments schools is way below the projected 55 percentage as most of the students who have passed in government schools are actually the products of private schools. “We have seen that in many government schools the students who have passed with good numbers have been students of private schools be it upto 5th or 8th standard. It is our private schools who have established their strong bases and thus they were able to pass the examination in a schools where majority have unfortunately failed,” said the spokesperson. “I challenge the government to give the name of just 10 percent of government school students who have studied in government schools all through their career and passed. We are sure pass percentage of pure government school students is below 10 percent.”
The Association demanded the government to implement the policy of Choice of Education and stop befooling the people in the name of poor students. “Every year government spends around Rs 12000 crore on education sector whereas half of the all the students study in private schools. So in reality they spend this budget on just half of the children. Our private schools run on a budget of just Rs 400 crores and they dont get anything from the Rs 12000 crore budget originally meant for all students,” said the spokesperson. “It is high time that society demand an answer from the government and ensure benefit reach to each and every student irrespective of his or her stature.”
The Association said that under the Choice of Education parents should be at the liberty to send their wards to either government or private schools. “If anybody sends his children to private school to get quality education let the government reimburse the fee of the children in the shape of Direct Benefit Transfer or Education voucher. In this way the money spent by government will reach the intended target and quality of education will also increase,” said the spokesperson. “For this to happen the entire society needs to raise the voice make the government accountable. We need to ask the question that Why is government discriminating against poor students of private schools?”
The Association also appreciated the steps taken by Principal Secretary School Education Dr Asghar Samoon for taking steps to reform the education sector. “He has been keen to the suggestions given by educationists and academicians. For the first time an officer at the helm of affairs is working overtime to streamline the education sector. We hope he also takes private schools on board and devise a mechanism to raise the quality of education in both private and government schools by taking everybody on board,” said the spokesperson. “All private schools of both Kashmir and Jammu division have already pledged support to the education department for any step meant to benefit the society.” (KNS)