Editorial Alarming staff crunch in schools

THE education sector in Jammu and Kashmiris in crisis, with government schools grappling with a severe shortage of teaching staff.

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Over 8,300 vacancies for Masters, Headmasters, Lecturers, and Principals remain unfilled across the Union Territory (UT). This alarming situation is exacerbated by the fact that no new teacher recruitments have taken place in the past five years, leaving thousands of highly-qualified yet unemployed youth in distress. The Jammu division alone faces a dire shortfall, with 1,665 Master posts vacant across ten districts. The crisis is particularly pronounced in the erstwhile Doda region, where nearly 600 Master posts remain unfilled. Additionally, 2,218 lecturer positions and 402 headmaster posts are vacant in government schools across Jammu, with Rajouri and Doda districts among the worst affected, each struggling with a deficit of over 300 lecturers. Further compounding the problem, more than 40 higher secondary schools in the region are functioning without Principals.