Board chief blames Education Dept for ETT mess
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Dr Sheikh Bashir Ahmad

Jammu, June 4
The newly-appointed chairman of the J&K State Board of School Education (BoSE), Dr Sheikh Bashir Ahmad, today blamed the state Education Department for the mess in the ETT colleges and institutions in the state.

Bashir said, “Yes, there are some loopholes in the existing system, but the state government is mainly responsible for either keeping a check on the functioning of the ETT colleges/institutions or disaffiliating them. We are the secondary authority having lesser powers.”

“It is the state government which issues no objection certificate (NoC) to the applicants to set up new colleges. Then the applicants apply to us for affiliation and after inspection we give them affiliation of the board. So, the mandate is with the state government and not with us,” said Bashir.

He said, “Besides conducting exams, we have constituted teams to regularly inspect these colleges,”

Bashir accepted the fact that there were a few colleges, which were defaulters, as the board had received some complaints regarding the lack of infrastructure, staff and the problem of absenteeism.

“We are trying our best, as the board has appointed a joint secretary, especially to deal with the ETT course. In two months the scenario will change, as the defaulters will have to close their institutions and then there will be no compromise,” said Bashir.

Speaking about the poor results in Class X and XII, he said the staff, including the principals of those schools which had shown poor results, would be taken to task by the department, as the Education Minister was concerned about bringing reforms in the present system.

Bashir appealed to the staff of the Education Board to perform their duties sincerely. “To bring transparency in the existing system is my first priority, and I assure the students of a fair evaluation system. I will try my best to conduct the exams well on time and declare the results within the stipulated time,” he said.

Courtesy: The Tribune