Quality of primary schooling: a case study of a government primary school in Jammu and Kashmir

Since the implementation of various centre/state-sponsored educational schemes especially SSA in Jammu and Kashmir, the main focus of the government has remained in opening of new primary schools in each village at a distance of 1km and appointment of Rehbar-e-Talim teachers (para teachers) in these primary schools. Most schools are functioning in rented buildings with two Rehbar-e-Talim teachers teaching the whole primary curriculum and hence, generalize multi grade teaching. While the quantitative expansion of the primary schools remains impressive, the achievements remains elusive, as these schools lack adequate infrastructural facilities, suffering from the shortage of teachers and unsatisfactory quality of education provided. In this paper an attempt has been made to show the real picture of these schools by analyzing the functioning of primary schooling and to know the perception of village community members about different aspects of schooling. Besides, an attempt has been made to understand how the conflict has an impact on the processes of schooling.