Govt to come up with in-house classes for tribal students: Zulfkar

SRINAGAR, MAY 9: Government would soon start in-house classes for Tribal students studying in classes’ 6^th - 8^th standards and residing in Gujjar and Bakarwal (G&B) hostels, the Minister for School Education, Hajj and Auqaf and Tribal Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali said today.

The Minister revealed the information while reviewing the functioning of G&B hostels of Kashmir province, which work under J&K State Advisory Board for Development of Gujjars and Bakerwals.

Vice-Chairman J&K State Advisory Board for Development of Gujjars and Bakerwals Gulzar Ahmad Khatana, Secretary Tribal Affairs (TA) Salma Hamid, Special Secretary, TA Mohammed Sharief Chowdhary, Director Finance TA Dr S K Sain, and all the wardens of G&B hostels from Kashmir province were present in the meeting.

The Minister said 54 teachers, six teachers for each hostel, will be deputed to start the classes in these hostels. With in-house classes, the students would receive quality education within the hostel premises and without any external interference disturbing them, he added.

Highlighting the role of wardens, the Minister said that a warden of a hostel is like a father figure and it becomes imperative that the warden treats and watches the activities of his inmates like his own children.

Urging the wardens to ensure the safety and security of inmates in the hostels, the Minister directed the concerned to ensure the inmates in the hostel do not get distracted by unwanted things. He said that modern methods of education should be employed so that students remain focused on their education.

Zulfkar Ali said that as all the wardens deputed in the hostels have come from education department, therefore, they can use their educational expertise and provide valuable guidance to the students in their hostels to achieve better academic results.

He also directed the concerned to ensure that bio-metric attendance of hostel inmates is maintained and is also connected to main server so that status of physical presence of inmates in the hostel could be monitored. Besides, the Minister also directed the officials to start an SMS alert, through which the parents of inmates are frequently updated about the regular activities of their wards in the hostels.

The meeting was informed that presently 23 G&B hostels are functioning in the State, which includes 17 hostels for boys and six for girls. Of these six hostels are up to higher secondary level and seven are upto undergraduate and post graduate level. The Minister was further informed that these hostels have an intake capacity of 2445 inmates, 1795 for boys and 650 for girl students. 

The inmates in the hostels are provided with free boarding, lodging and other facilities.

With Kashmir province having nine hostels, seven for boys and two for girls, the Minister directed the officials to further enhance the intake capacity of inmates in the hostels by 125 seats thus taking the total figure to 1000 in Kashmir province.