By: Pir Azhar U Din
Kupwara, Jammu & Kashmir – November 14, 2025: The School Education Department, Kashmir Division, has launched a large-scale enrollment drive to boost admissions in government schools for the 2025–2026 academic session. The initiative offers free education up to 8th standard, along with textbooks, uniforms, and mid-day meals, aiming to make education more accessible in rural and border areas.
As part of the campaign, officials visited Budnambal, a LoC village about 150 km from Srinagar in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, on Children’s Day. Budnambal has 8 government-run schools, including a High School, and 74 students were enrolled during the drive.
While the event was celebrated as a success, residents highlighted a serious shortage of teachers. Currently, 6 teachers from Budnambal schools are deployed elsewhere, and around 30 teachers from the Kralpora Education Zone are serving outside their assigned schools, including 9 working outside the district, while still drawing salaries from rural schools. Parents say these teachers could cover multiple schools, helping to address the staffing gaps in this hilly, remote region.
Parent Mushtaq Ahmad told Citizen Reporter India (CRI), “We are happy the administration is reaching our doorstep to enroll our children. But we are disappointed that teachers drawing salaries from our schools are working elsewhere. Our children are the ones who suffer.”
CEO Kupwara, Mehraj-ud-Din Shah, responded, “We will assess the situation and redeploy teachers who can perform their duties in these remote areas. Most teachers here have enrolled their children in government schools and many themselves studied in these schools, reflecting the trust in public education.”
Highlighting local achievements, the CEO noted that two students from Budnambal recently cleared the NEET examination, including one student who is the son of a local teacher, demonstrating the quality of education in government schools.
The department has pledged to address staffing shortages while continuing to improve enrollment and quality of education in remote areas like Budnambal.
